


Ratchet and Clank: The Second Great War

by samanan7, The_White_Guardian, TheLilyoftheValley



Category: Ratchet & Clank
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2018-09-28 00:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 87,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10060181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samanan7/pseuds/samanan7, https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_White_Guardian/pseuds/The_White_Guardian, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLilyoftheValley/pseuds/TheLilyoftheValley
Summary: It has been three years since Ratchet and Clank defeated Mr. Eye and ended the Netherverse Crisis. Things have been going relatively well for them, and Polaris, along with the rest of the Universe, is enjoying a period of relative peace and stability.Talwyn has just summoned them to her office at the Polaris Defense Force's headquarters on Igliak, claiming she had something important to tell them.Little do they know, starting at this moment, things are never going to be the same.......





	1. Anomalous Occurrences

 

 

 

(beta reading done by https://www.deviantart.com/thelilyflower) 

 

 

 

  


(Art by: <http://kina-axian.tumblr.com/>)

Comments are appreciated!

Perfect theme music for this story: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu_JlYza4Is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu_JlYza4Is%20%20%20)

  _(Author's note: As of 6/28/18 this chapter has been updated, beginning a series of refurbishments to the story, chapters will be updated one by one!)_

 

"Any idea as to why exactly Tal wants us to go check this one out?" Ratchet asked Clank as they stepped out of the large elevator. "Last time I checked there were thousands of skilled soldiers at her disposal."

 

"That is correct. I can only assume there is something special about this particular errand that Ms. Apogee requires our expertise. That, or perhaps she does not trust anyone but us with this information."

 

"Well, it better be special, I skipped breakfast for this," Ratchet said as his stomach gave an agreeing growl. "We better go and grab a bite to eat first before we go on whatever mission Talwyn has for us."

 

Clank glared at his friend as they walked through the long hallway. "I assume you will not stop putting the wellbeing of the galaxy behind your own hunger for food anytime soon?"

 

"Hey, a Lombax’s gotta eat, pal. You of all people should know that."

 

At that moment they arrived at the office of the captain of the Polaris Defense Force. The two bulky robot soldiers in front of the door raised their weapons slightly, eyeing the two as they approached.

 

"Ratchet and Clank,” Clank stated as he gestured his arms toward Ratchet and himself. “We have an appointment with Ms. Apogee."

 

One of the soldiers pressed a button on the speaker next to him. "Captain Apogee? Ratchet and Clank are here to see you."

 

"Yes, please, send them in," Talwyn replied, her firm voice crackling out of the speaker.

 

The two soldiers gave the Lombax and the little robot a polite nod before stepping aside and letting the duo pass.

 

The reinforced steel door slid open, and the two stepped inside the large office of the PDF’s captain. At the other end of the room, Talwyn sat behind a beautifully carved desk, the tall windows behind her bathing her in Igliak’s afternoon light. A stoic look adorned her face, and the Markazian watched as the duo made their way over to her desk.

 

"What's with all the guns?" Ratchet asked after the door closed behind them.

 

"Standard security protocol," Talwyn said stiffly before softening her expression. "But it doesn't matter. Have a seat, guys. What you’re about to see here is gonna be quite interesting."

 

The two heroes plopped down in the plush blue chairs facing the desk, and leaned in as they waited for Talwyn to begin.

 

She pressed a button on her desk and the windows’ transparency decreased, darkening the room. A projector then turned on, displaying whatever it had to show on the window behind Talwyn. A sandy brown planet with deep, visible canyons strewn across its surface, almost like rough scars, popped up onto the screen. Ratchet and Clank had first seen it just a few years earlier, although it hadn’t made a good first impression.

 

_“What the… Where is everybody?”_

 

_“I tried to tell you Ratchet. The database said this planet was deserted ages ago…”_

 

Fastoon…

 

"First off, I assume you two recognize this planet?"

 

"Fastoon, of course, how could we forget?" Ratchet murmured, his memories of the desert planet flooding his mind.

 

Talwyn nodded. "Just making sure." A small, sad smile appeared on her face. “It’s certainly been a long while since we were on Fastoon…”

 

As her smile turned into frown, she stood up and cleared her throat. "Alright, I’ll cut to the chase. A couple of days ago, we received various witness reports describing strange phenomena on the planet's surface, something like odd, bright flashes. The witnesses described it happening around here," Talwyn explained, pointing at a location in the planet's upper hemisphere.

 

"In response to these claims, I ordered the lab guys to move the Fastoon defense satellite orbit over it. Yesterday I received the results.” She walked back to her computer and typed in what she needed. “Check it out, and tell me what you think."

 

The projector then cut to a video that was clearly taken from an orbiting spacecraft. It showed the ruined capital city of Fastoon, and slowly an old square of some kind slid into view.

 

Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and Ratchet blinked rapidly to adjust his eyes. When the light faded, they could see a group of figures run out and into the city, disappearing in the ruins.

 

"I asked the tech guys to clean up the footage a little, to see if they can give us a clearer indication of what happened. They managed to pull up several other kinds of data recorded by the satellite, as well as lowering the brightness and speed so we can see what happened there," Talwyn said. The video replayed, but this time several other values were shown in multiple graphs and lists on the right side of the screen.

 

Then the video got to the point where the flash occurred. Ratchet gasped and Clank's jaw dropped as they saw what was behind the bright light.

 

A wormhole seemed to open, some kind of portal, and they could see the figures come out. They were still too small from up in space to properly identify them, but there were _beings_ there.

 

"What really bothers me is... well... look at the data on the right," Talwyn said.

 

"There seems to have been a spike in the levels of various kinds of radiation, as well as a brief increase in gravity!" Clank exclaimed, his optics wide with surprise.

 

"Exactly. It actually nearly pulled the satellite out of orbit," Talwyn said, biting her lip in worry.

 

"Those things we saw... whatever this is... it honestly scares me a bit."

 

"Aaaaand that's why you want us to check it out," Ratchet said.

 

"Exactly. That, and, well-“ her eyes locked onto Ratchet’s, and the Lombax could see the worry in her eyes “-this mission really hits home for you quite literally, huh?"

 

Ratchet nodded, flashing Talwyn a comforting smile. "You got it Tal. Clank and I can check it out and be back with answers in no time. It’s no problem."

 

Talwyn looked at them with concern, but shook her head and sighed. "I know you two can probably handle this, but just... be careful, okay?”

 

Clank stood up on his chair and looked to Talwyn. “Do not worry Ms. Apogee, we shall be fine while investigating planet Fastoon. With my sensors and Ratchet’s combat skills, we should be able to handle anything that comes our way.”

 

Talwyn visibly relaxed a bit, and the Markazian breathed a sigh of relief. “I'll send the coordinates of the event to Aphelion. And… I've got something for you guys to use while investigating. Head to the labs on floor six and ask for Project Synced Mind. It's an experimental headset that should allow me to see what you see. We’ve been itching to test it out in a long-distance setting and, well, this is a perfect opportunity.”

 

Ratchet nodded and gave a mock salute. "Aye aye captain," he joked as he got up. Clank hopped onto his back. "I’ll go get that new toy you want me to test out. Thanks for the early Christmas present Tal!” he teased as Talwyn rolled her eyes and smiled.

 

“Goodbye, Ms. Apogee. We shall contact you as soon as we reach the surface of the planet," Clank said, waving her goodbye as Ratchet walked them out the door.

 

Talwyn shook her head and chuckled as she sat back down at her desk. As she pulled up a bit of paperwork to do while she waited for Ratchet and Clank to get back to her, her eyes drifted to the few framed pictures on her desk. One held a picture of her, Cronk, and Zephyr of when she had been a child, and the other was a picture of her, Ratchet, and Clank on a day out. Each face held a lively grin, and Talwyn’s mind replayed the happier memories. Her eyes lingered on the heroic duo she just sent away, and her earlier anxiety returned.

 

“Orvus…” she breathed, her fingers shaking slightly as she closed her eyes “…please keep them safe.”

 

 After picking up Project Synced Mind, Ratchet and Clank headed to Aphelion, where Ratchet had parked right outside the building on the VIP landing pad. They hopped in as the security around the Defense Force building cleared their exit.

 

Ignoring his stomach, much to Clank's relief, Ratchet instructed Aphelion to load the coordinates Talwyn provided and plot a course.

 

"Fastoon? It's been ages since we've been there," Aphelion said as Ratchet and Clank fastened their seatbelts. "Seeing the ruins always saddens me."

 

Ratchet nodded. "You're not the only one who feels that way, Aphelion," he murmured as he began to fly Aphelion out of Igliak's icy blue atmosphere.

 

* * *

 

About two hours later they entered Fastoon's dusty atmosphere, and everything seemed to have stayed the same way they had left it years before. The same dusty plains and deep canyons flew under them as they made their way to the planet’s surface. After a few minutes of tracking down a good landing spot, they landed exactly where the anomaly had been, climbed out of Aphelion, and began their search.

 

After a few minutes of searching the dusty, desert landscape, Clank spoke up from Ratchet’s back. “Perhaps you should put on the helmet we picked up from the lab.”

 

Ratchet nodded as Clank handed him the helmet. The helmet was small and silver, something that wouldn’t bother Ratchet as he wore it. A tiny lens was visible on the hood of the helmet, and Ratchet shrugged as he finished studying the device. “Alright, pal. Let’s test this thing out.”

 

Ratchet slowly put on Project Synced Mind and wrote, _'Tal, I hope you can read this'_ in the sand.

 

"This project has a built-in speech function, you know," Talwyn said through a speaker near Ratchet's ear, making the Lombax jump.

 

"Good to know," he grumbled as Talwyn and Clank chuckled.

 

Ratchet sprinted down the same path the figures took, using Clank’s Thruster Pack to climb the large pieces of debris and scanning the open area from above. The dusty atmosphere made it hard to see, and Ratchet squinted out into the open area, trying to find any sign of the mysterious figures.

 

"You see anything, Tal? Clank?" Ratchet asked.

 

"Nope, nothing," Talwyn replied. "I don't see any footprints or hints of possible activity either.”

 

Clank opened his mouth to speak before tensing. "I am detecting movement!" Clank suddenly exclaimed. "On your right, Ratchet!"

 

Ratchet turned in that direction, whipping into a defensive pose. "Clank… I don't see anything, only dust and ruins."

 

"Movement behind you!" Clank suddenly warned.

 

Ratchet turned around, carefully scanning his environment for potential threats, Omniwrench Millennium 12 in hand and ready to strike.

 

"Movement directly ahead of you, and lots of it!"

 

"Where?!"

 

"Movement everywhere, we are surrounded!"

 

Ratchet felt paranoia rise in his chest as his eyes darted around the sandy environment around them. "What’s going on Clank?! Are you playing games with me?!"

 

The little robot’s mouth snapped shut. He waited a second before murmuring, "Ratchet, do not question me and listen closely. On three, you turn around and run. Ready? One… Two…"

 

The moment Clank said “Three,” Ratchet bolted back the way they came. As the yellow Lombax shot forward, Clank scanned the area he could see in infrared and kept his motion detectors at the ready.

 

"Interesting."

 

Ratchet screeched to a halt and turned his head to Clank as he tried to catch his breath. "What?" he asked.

 

"I do see movement, but whatever we are dealing with does not seem to be radiating infrared light," Clank explained, continuing to run scans over the area.

 

Ratchet raised an eyebrow. "Which means…?"

 

Talwyn’s voice snapped out over the com link. "It's likely cold-blooded or armored or something!" Tal yelled. "Ratchet, you guys could be in serious danger! Run! Get out of there!"

 

And Ratchet did run, until he reached another square surrounded by ruins. "Ratchet, stop!" Clank commanded, and Ratchet stopped dead in his tracks.

 

"I am detecting movement everywhere!"

 

"Yeah, but I still don't see any- wait, what was that?"

 

Ratchet swore that he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, inside a building. The Lombax turned to face the broken building and searched for whatever it was that he saw.

And then he saw it. Standing in the shadows was a figure, and Ratchet could faintly see a green glow. "What the he-"

 

He didn't finish his sentence.

 

"Ratchet, watch out!" Clank tried to warn him, but it was too late. Something slammed into them before they could identify what it was. Ratchet yelped and fell. The right side of his neck suddenly stung, and his hand slapped at the area. With a grimace, he pulled something out of his neck.

 

He stared at the dart in confusion as world began to spin, and after a moment, Ratchet lost consciousness.

 

A few seconds later, Project Synced Mind lost the connection to the Polaris Defense Force headquarters. Talwyn gasped in fear, her mind and heart praying that she hadn’t just lost the only two creatures left in the galaxy that she considered her family.

 

“Ratchet?! Clank?! NO!"

 

 


	2. Chapter Two: Surprise, Surprise

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (Updated on 6/28/18  with beta reading by https://www.deviantart.com/thelilyflower)

 

  


(Picture once again by: <http://kina-axian.tumblr.com/>)

The world was a blur to Ratchet, like a camera out of focus. Slowly but surely, his vision cleared and he sat up, a hand held up to steady his dizzy head. He currently sat on a worn mattress, the only piece of furniture in the small room he was in. The walls were made of slate grey rocks, and the ground was covered in dust. Light filtered through some small openings in the wall to his left, but what caught Ratchet’s attention was the heavily-armored creature in front of him.

Behind a door made of metal bars was the figure Ratchet had seen earlier. Now that the being was right in front of him, he could finally make out its appearance clearly.

The figure wore black armor with gray plating, some parts of the armor, like the visor, were a glowing green. Long, triangular ears and an even longer tail, both covered in the black armor, raised defensively as Ratchet locked eyes with the creature.

"So, you're awake at last," the figure said with a deep, artificially-produced voice.

"Who are you?" Ratchet asked, eyeing the figure warily.

The figure shook its head and crossed its arms behind its back. "I'm not going to reply to anything until you have answered my questions. Now, who are you and what are you doing on Fastoon?”

"My name’s Ratchet, I never knew my last name. I’m on Fastoon on behalf of the Polaris Defense Force," Ratchet replied.

"The PDF? Why?"

Ratchet thought back to the report Talwyn had explained. "Various witnesses reported seeing strange flashes of light coming from the planet's surface. After some orbital satellites confirmed these claims, I was sent to investigate."

"What's your rank within the PDF?"

"I'm not with the PDF, I'm here on behalf of the PDF, like I said before. I'm actually a hero,” Ratchet said. “I've saved this galaxy and two neighboring galaxies various times, so the PDF sent me to investigate. Partly because I’m the most experienced, and partly because, well, missions on Fastoon kinda hit home for me," he added sheepishly.

"Fastoon? You live here?"

"Oh, no, I didn’t mean that in a literal sense. When I'm in Solana, I live on planet Veldin, in Bogon on planet Endako, and in Polaris on planet Igliak." Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest. “But Fastoon is my people’s home, and while I’ve never really had the chance to live here, I still value where my kind originated.”

The figure nodded. It was silent for a moment before speaking up again. "What about the Cragmite?"

"Tachyon? I was the guy responsible for his downfall," Ratchet said. "Left him to die in another dimension."

"So... you’re telling me that Percival Tachyon is stranded in some dimension because of your actions?"

"Pretty much."

"Can you back this up with any evidence?" the being asked, crossing its arms. “How do we know you aren’t one of Tachyon’s spies?”

Ratchet froze. He had no evidence on hand. "I... I don't know how I can prove it."

"Then tell me everything,” it commanded. “Maybe the details can tell me what I need to know."

And Ratchet told the whole story. From the invasion of Kerwan to the showdown in the Court of Azimuth. He made sure to retell every detail of the adventure, only omitting the Zoni and Clank’s capture. As he told the story, the figure stayed stock still, continuing to stare motionlessly at the yellow Lombax.

As Ratchet finally ended his retelling, the figure's visor retracted. Deep, red fur and brown eyes appeared, and Ratchet did everything he could to hold back his shock.

It was a Lombax. 

(Picture done by: <http://xenomind.deviantart.com/>)

"I believe you,” he said slowly, the voice morpher gone and his normal voice back. “What you say checks out. Earlier we checked the Court for any provisions and it was chaos. According to our own lab techs, the space-time fabric was heavily damaged there, as if the rules of nature had been violated, and the old Dimensionator definitely is capable of producing these signs.”

He smiled. “We also ran a few tests on you while you were unconscious… I took a few hairs and a sample of your saliva and sent it to the makeshift lab here, and the guys there reported back that you’re definitely a Lombax. They ran it through every test they could think of -DNA analysis, cellular composition, spectral analysis- and every single time the results were a positive match. I believe your story.”

The armored Lombax unlocked the cell door, and motioned for Ratchet to follow him. “I better get you out of here… Watchman would probably like to speak with you in person."

With a sigh of relief, Ratchet stood up from the mattress and headed out the cell door. After the armored Lombax closed the cell door behind him, he offered up his hand.

"Honored to meet you. Lieutenant Samuel Kepler at your service, though please, call me by my last name. I never use my first," he said with a smile.

"Alright then, Kepler. Name's Ratchet, like I said before," Ratchet replied, shaking Kepler's hand.

"Come on, I'll take you to Watchman," Kepler said as he walked off, Ratchet following close behind.

They walked past five empty cells before they reached a rusty metal door. Kepler opened the door, revealing the familiar ruins of the Lombax city. "We didn't really expect to have to take prisoners, you know, so we just improvised and used an old and broken prison instead," Kepler explained. "Don't worry though, we were sure it wouldn't come down on you or any of us."

"I’m guessing the first time you guys saw me you had quite the surprise, huh?" Ratchet asked.

"Oh! By the way, where’s Clank?"

"Well,” Kepler began as they began walking out, “look at it from our perspective, coming across an armed Lombax in the middle of a broken city, one that was scanning the area visually with a helmet that transmitted video and audio back to an unknown location, we were pretty certain that you were a spy with a hologuise or a mercenary. We took you prisoner so that we could ensure that we weren't gunning down an innocent Lombax. And who's Clank?"

"Clank? I had him on my back when you guys shot at me.” Ratchet held up his hands to mimic Clank’s height. “Little robot with a hex-mount port on his back, green optics, enough logic in his head to confuse a Terachnoid?"

"Oh, that robot.” Ratchet shot the other Lombax a sarcastic look. “Just had to be sure, don't give me that look," Kepler pleaded, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

“Where is he?”

Kepler gave him a sheepish grin. "Uh... well... there's probably a scientist trying to hack into his head right now."

"What?!" Ratchet’s heart did a nosedip as fear flooded the yellow Lombax’s body. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Kepler turned back to find an angry-looking Lombax. The red Lombax backed up a bit. "Hey, we need to be very careful here! Even a fool would know why. Here, I'll go get Clank while you speak to Watchman."

"You better not lie to me!" Ratchet shouted, unbridled fury in his voice. “I swear, if any of you hurt him…”

Kepler shook his head. "Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your friend is safe and unharmed. But right now, we really need to get you to Watchman."

After a moment, Ratchet deflated where he stood. “Alright then. Show me the way to this Watchman guy. But seriously, if anything bad happens to Clank you guys are gonna be blown back to the Lombax Dimension, good guys or not. He’s one of the few people I’ve got left to call a family and I can’t imagine losing him.”

Kepler nodded respectfully and waved his arm, and Ratchet once again followed behind him.

Ratchet looked ahead of them, and saw a small campsite. The tents were all in camouflage matching the colors of Fastoon’s desert landscape, and Ratchet could see Lombaxes, all wearing the same armor that Kepler was wearing, walking around the campsite.

Kepler led Ratchet to one of the tents in the center of the campsite. "Welcome back sir!" the guard standing in front of the tent said, their voice disguised in the same voice morpher Kepler had. "I assume this means he's legitimate?" the guard asked, motioning toward Ratchet with their wrench-less hand.

As the guard talked, Ratchet immediately noticed something off. His eyes searched for what felt off, and then he noticed the lack of a tail. Combined with the curvier body type and the lack of tail (and with what Ratchet knew from his time with Angela Cross) it had to be a female Lombax.  

"Yep, we're good, those lab tests we ran confirm it. Although, I think Watchman should speak with this Lombax in person. Trust me when I say he'll be interested," Kepler replied. He turned to Ratchet. "Go on in, Staff Sergeant Kate Eridani here will show you around. I'll go get your little friend."

Ratchet and Eridani entered the tent as Kepler walked away. Inside the tent were various complicated-looking machines, but the large monitor up ahead caught Ratchet's interest.

Eridani raised her hand and a second later the monitor turned on. A silhouette of a Lombax flashed onscreen, and after a moment a firm voice echoed out. "Unit Sierra-1, what is the meaning of this transmission?"

"We found a Lombax sir, and he checks out. According to Kepler, you should probably talk to him."

"Hmm... I recognize those eyes," Watchman said. "But where have I seen those eyes before? It must've been a long time ago."

Ratchet smiled. "Does the name 'Kaden' ring a bell?"

"Spot-on,” Watchman confirmed, snapping his fingers and pointing at Ratchet. “How’d you know?"

"Kaden was my father." Ratchet was silent for a moment. “But I… never really knew him. He died after he hid the Dimensionator and sent me to Solana.”

Watchman stayed silent. Then he spoke. "Staff Sergeant, disable the filter."

Eridani raised her hand again, and Watchman's face was revealed. He was an older Lombax, and he wore armor similar to the one Alister Azimuth had been wearing. Watchman had yellow fur and blue eyes that, despite their age, still radiated authority and wisdom.

Watchman saluted Ratchet. "General William Oort, five-bolt magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard and direct supervisor of Operation Lima Charlie Hotel. And you, young one… has anyone ever told you that you look a lot like your father?"

Ratchet chuckled, a sense of déjà vu sweeping through him. "Yes, in fact."

Oort smiled at the younger Lombax. "I hope you've been making your late dad proud… Anyhow, seeing as you've been in this dimension longer than we have, you’re probably more up-to-date. I would like to ask of you to tell me everything, how's it going with Polaris, but mostly, tell me about the current state of that scumbag Tachyon."

Ratchet’s grin widened. "You won't have to worry about Tachyon anymore. I've left him behind in another dimension, so unless he managed to construct a new Dimensionator with his underpants, I doubt we'll be seeing him ever again. Polaris is now ruled by a new government, and the Polaris Defense Force is there for the safety of the galaxy. I’m actually on this planet on behalf of the PDF."

Oort's eyes lit up. "What?! Tachyon's gone?! Eridani, get everyone here, now!"

Kate saluted Oort and rushed out of the tent. A few minutes later a group of thirty Lombaxes, including Kate and Kepler, entered the tent. It became a bit crowded as all of armored Lombaxes turned their attention to the monitor.

"Alright, everyone listen up. Uh... young one, what was your name again?" Oort asked, looking at Ratchet.

"It's Ratchet, sir."

"Ratchet, step forward please."

Ratchet did as he was told.

"Lombaxes, meet the son of the great Kaden, Ratchet, who, and I can barely believe my own ears, single-handedly defeated Tachyon and brought peace back to Polaris."

A huge applause followed.

Oort motioned to Ratchet. "Ratchet, I'll give you the honors. Is it safe to proceed with mission Lima Charlie Hotel, yes or no?"

Ratchet looked back at the monitor, a confused look on his face. "I mean no disrespect sir, but what does it even stand for?"

Oort smiled. "It stands for 'Lombax Come Home.’"

 

 


	3. Chapter Three: The Unthinkable

The silence was choking. Ratchet's eyes scanned the crowd until he saw two familiar, glowing green eyes.

Ratchet's eyes silently asked Clank for help, and Clank nodded with a smile.

Ratchet cleared his throat. "Well... uh... general?"

"Yes?" Oort asked.

Ratchet glanced at the general over his shoulder. "Feel free to proceed with operation Lima Charlie Hotel."

The applause was massive, and Ratchet saw Kate and Kepler give each other a high five.

Oort laughed and clapped his hands together. "That's amazing news! In that case, I doubt you'll be seeing anything but Lombaxes on Fastoon very soon, young one."

"Yes, but general, how did you know my father?" Ratchet asked.

"I wish I'd have time to talk about that. Seeing as you've been alone for so long, you've earned those answers. However, I have way too many things to take care of. I'm sorry, but it'll have to wait until later."

Ratchet nodded.

"There is just one thing." Ratchet said. "Could the members of the squad that stalked me earlier please step forward?"

Seven Lombaxes, Kepler and Kate among them, stepped forward. "Lieutenant Samuel Kepler, Staff Sergeant Kate Eridani, Private Liam Rosetta, Sergeant Richard Apophis, Corporal James Zwicky, Private Michelle Luna, and Staff Sergeant Connor Centauri." Oort said. "What's with them?"

"Well," Ratchet said. "when you guys captured me, I was wearing a special headset that streamed whatever I was seeing directly to the office of the head of the PDF. I'd like to know, what happened to the headset?"

"Well... uh... Connor, didn't you break it?" Kepler asked.

"Correct." Connor said. 

"Aye." Ratchet said, looking concerned. "Then the head of the PDF, a very good friend of mine, ls likely worried sick right now. Thus when I return with the story of the Lombax race planning to return after all those years, she'll likely think I've gone insane or something. So I'd prefer to have some of you with me to prove I'm not bluffing. If you're all okay with me telling the PDF about this, that is."

"Depends." Oort said. "Would it be beneficial?"

"To the mental health of my friend, yes, it would be beneficial. But aside from that, I've saved this galaxy more than once, I doubt Polaris wouldn't want to help my race. Add to that, witnesses have claimed to have seen strange phenomena on Fastoon, that's why I'm here, and then I 'vanished'. As you can imagine, the PDF will tear this place apart until they find me, unless we stop them before they arrive."

Oort nodded. "Alright then. Sierra-1, will you join Ratchet with bringing the news of our return to Polaris?"

All seven members of Sierra-1 saluted. "Sir, yes sir!"

Oort nodded. "It's settled then. I will continue with the preparation of operation Lima Charlie Hotel from here, contact me when any of you have returned. I want to know the outcome ASAP, got it?"

"Yes sir!"

Oort nodded. "Alright then. Watchman out."

And the screen went black.

"Alright." Kepler said, turning to Ratchet. "Anything you wanna do before we head out? We're ready when you are."

Ratchet's stomach answered for him, letting out a loud growl. "Yeah." Ratchet said, blushing a bit. "I haven't eaten in ages."

Kepler laughed. "We hear that alright! Come, follow me."

Ratchet followed Kepler into another tent. Upon entered it, Ratchet realized just how hungry he was. The smell filling the tent nearly made him drool.

Kepler walked over to the robot behind the stove, and a few minutes later he walked back to Ratchet with a tray full of food. Ratchet, in the meantime, had sat down at a table placed inside the tent.

"Since you've lived without any members of your own species, I thought it was about time that you tried some Lombaxian food." Kepler said as he placed the tray in front of Ratchet. "Bon appetit."

"Thanks!" Ratchet said as he grabbed a knife and fork, and began to eat.

Kepler nodded. "I've got some preparations to make, for example, bringing your ship here and getting it fixed. We may or may not have hit it with an EMP to disable it."

"You what?!"

Kepler winced. "Hey, your ship will be fine, I promise! Anyhow, meet me at the landing pad when you're done. If you don't know the way, just ask someone."

Clank sat down next to Ratchet as he ate.

"It is a rather... unusual sight, is it not? Lombaxes on Fastoon?"

Ratchet chuckled. "You know, I still can barely believe it myself, pal. Damn, this food's good!"

"Thanks!" the robot yelled from the other side of the tent as he was busy making preparations for dinner.

Clank nodded. "Are you certain that Miss Apogee will not jump out of her skin when we bring the news to her?"

Ratchet shrugged. "Tal's a smart one, Clank. She'll probably surprised at least, but I doubt she'd lash out at them. After all, it's always clever to be cautious."

"Agreed, and with Miss Apogee being the head of the Defense Force, I expect her to be aware of those strategies, or at least being able to understand them. However, we must be cautious with how we bring the news to Polaris. We must not forget that the Praetorian Guard is likely working overtime to keep this high-risk mission going without any problems, we must not anger or offend any races, like Blarg or Agorian, that would be willing to intervene in some way during the return of the Lombax race."

Ratchet nodded as he stood up, having finished eating. "Hey, uh, where do I leave this?" he said to the cook.

"Just leave it there, I'll pick it up later. You go tell Polaris about our return." the robot replied as he opened up a compartment in his chest, revealing that it was a dishwasher, and began to place the stack of dishes, now including the one Ratchet had used, inside of the diswasher.

"Alright, thanks."

About three hours later two ships landed at Igliak: Aphelion, and a Lombax carrier ship. Ratchet had asked for permission for the military aircraft to enter the atmosphere, if he hadn't informed the Defense Force that a friendly military vessel was coming in, they would likely have been shot down.

After landing, Ratchet, Clank and Sierra-1 entered the headquarters of the PDF. They got some looks sent their way, most of them directed at the squad of armored people rather than the intergalactic heroes they were following.

When they entered Talwyn's office, Ratchet was nearly crushed almost immediately by her hug. "Ratchet! Oh, I was so worried about you!" she said while hugging him.

Talwyn broke the embrace. "So, uhhhhhhh, who the heck are those people?"

Ratchet burst out laughing. “Only now you begin to wonder about the squad of armored people behind me?”

Talwyn gently poked his arm. "I was worried sick, bolts-for-brains. You and Clank are the only people I have left, if anything would happen to you two..."

Ratchet nodded. "I was only joking with you, Talwyn. Anyhow, Sierra-1, drop your visors."

The seven members of Sierra-1 did as they were told. Talwyn gasped. "Am I really seeing this right now?! What is going on?! Y-y-y-y-you’re, Lombaxes?!"

Kepler nodded. "Indeed we are. Looks like we've not been forgotten after all those years."

"But... how?"

Ratchet told her everything. From waking up to the point they landed at Igliak, and Talwyn listened with great interest.

"So... it's really happening?"

"Yep." Kate said. "We're coming home."

Talwyn sat down behind her desk. "I still can't quite believe this….. I feel like this is some delusion."

"It's true." Ratchet said. "What the witnesses saw was a small group of Lombaxes returning to this dimension to scout Fastoon to see if it was safe to come home."

For a few seconds it was silent. Then Talwyn spoke.

"Tell them... no, I'll come with you and say it myself." she said, getting up. "Send the coordinates to my ship, I'll meet you on Fastoon." she said before walking out the door.

A few hours later they landed at Fastoon. Ratchet, Clank, Talwyn and Sierra-1 entered the tent with the monitor again. Kepler informed a Lombax technician, and a few minutes later general Oort appeared on screen. "What is it?” He said with a sigh. Oort was looking at something off-screen.

"General Oort?" Talwyn asked. The female voice caught Oort's attention. "I haven't heard that voice before." he said, turning to the screen. For a second, he stayed silent. "No, I do not recognize you. Who are you, miss...?"

"Talwyn Apogee, head of the Polaris Defense Force. I am here in person on the PDF's behalf."

Oort saluted her. "Greetings, Captain Apogee. I presume you've been informed of our current situation, and what the Praetorian Guard is currently trying to accomplish?"

"I have, and I must say, it's still a bit overwhelming. Anyhow, I'm here in person to promise you the full support of the Polaris Defense Force. Polaris hasn't forgotten the Great War, and what the Lombax race freed us from. Thus, I think it's about time for Polaris to do something back."

Oort laughed and clapped his hands together. "That's amazing news! The full support of the PDF, I couldn't ask for more."

Then he frowned. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you for assistance immediately though."

"What do you need? Keep in mind though that I may not be able to supply you with what you need right away, especially if it's a tall order. Add to that, you're not in this dimension, and I can't open portals from here."

Oort nodded. "I know. The problem is, as you probably noticed, Fastoon is still in ruins, and rebuilding will take a while. Problem is, when we start moving Lombaxes back into this dimension, they need a place to sleep. A part of the scouting mission was locating a possible location to set up a camp, and Sierra-1 has succeeded in finding such a location. Problem is, we are short on tents."

"Tents, huh? Consider it done." Talwyn said.

"Perfect." Oort said. "Let me know when you're ready, the sooner we can start moving everyone home, the better. Watchman out."

The screen went black. "Watchman?" Talwyn wondered out loud.

"Oort's codename." Kepler explained.

"Ah, I see." Talwyn said. "Well, I'm going back to Igliak, the sooner I get those tents ready, the better. Ratchet, before leaving Igliak I've given the order to make preparations for a major announcement. Seeing as it's your race, I think it'd be more than fitting if you'd bring the news to Polaris."

Ratchet nodded. "Got it. We'll fly after you then."

"Don't forget us." Kate said. "Kep and I are coming with you on behalf of Sierra-1, and as proof."

"Alright then." Ratchet said. "In that case, you guys can take Aphelion's back seats. Saves me some trouble with the military too."

A little while later, they had landed at Igliak once again. They said goodbye to Talwyn and headed to the plaza behind the headquarters of the PDF, where a whole stage had been built. A crowd had already gathered, eagerly awaiting what was going to be said.

Ratchet cleared his throat, and he, Clank, Kepler and Kate stepped onto the stage. Ratchet walked over to a PDF-Soldier. "Is Polaris News present?"

"Yes sir, and so are Bogon Galaxy News, and Solana Live." the Novalian soldier replied before offering Ratchet the microphone.

Ratchet took the microphone and walked to the center of the stage, with Clank, Kate and Kepler following him. "People of Polaris, Solana, and Bogon." he began. "I... uh... erm..."

He quickly pushed the microphone into Clank's hands with a gesture that said 'fix it'.

If Clank could, he would've rolled his eyes. Taking the microphone, he took a step forward. "Citizens of Polaris, Solana and Bogon, I believe some, if not most of you remember the Lombax species, the species of Ratchet. You may also have noticed how rare the species is nowadays."

There was some acknowledging-sounding mumbling coming from the audience.

Clank nodded. "Well, we have just received word that, after having fled to another reality in the aftermath of a lowlife attack by the late Percival Tachyon, the Lombax species is making preparations to return to this reality."

The crowd went wild, and journalists began to bombard Clank, Ratchet, Kepler and Kate with questions. Clank raised his hands. "People, please, there is time to answer your questions at the end of the presentation. Now, with millions..."

Clank quickly glanced over his shoulder at Kepler, who quickly pointed up. "...if not billions of people returning to planet Fastoon, access to the planet will be restricted. Also, I am certain that you all may have many questions, but please, do not overwhelm these poor people with questions that have no priority. Now I shall answer some of your questions." Clank turned to a robotic journalist. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Darla Gratch, channel six news." the woman quickly introduced herself. "How do you plan on moving millions of people to a ruined planet? Those people must have somewhere to sleep?"

Clank nodded. "That is correct. Thus, the Lombax Praetorian Guard and the Polaris Defense Force are closely working together on making this operation succeed."

Clank nodded to another reporter. "Dallas Wannamaker here, Bogon Galaxy News. After fleeing to another dimension, the Lombax species surely must have built some kind of civilization. Are you certain every Lombax there wants to leave?"

"Well, as I have never been in the Lombax dimension myself, I suppose it would be wise to let someone else answer this question." Clank said, turning to Kepler and Kate. "Would either of you be willing to lend me a hand here?"

"Sure." Kate said, stepping forward and receiving the microphone from Clank. She cleared her throat. "The population of planet Asfaleia has voted to return after a political movement urging for return was started by none other than Oort himself, and so, when the people voted, the ‘return’ choice got 96% of the votes versus the 4% obtained by the ‘remain’ choice. Please know that no Lombax will be forced to return, they will all be able to return to this dimension if they wish to do so."

"But eh, how are the conditions on planet... usfeleia?"

"Asfaleia, and the name is indeed a bit complicated. Anyhow, Asfaleia had a relatively temperate climate, and unlike fastoon, it instead was covered in mostly forests.  
Kate turned to another reporter. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Sylvana Everstar, Polaris News." the Cazar identified herself. "When will the move to this dimension take place?"

Kate nodded. "For safety reasons, I cannot tell you that information. Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Yes. Is the Praetorian Guard strong as it used to be?"

Kate chuckled. "Yes. Kepler and I can vouch for their strength."

"What will the Lombax race to in return for Polaris as thanks for their help?"

"The Praetorian Guard promises to protect Polaris Galaxy for as long as either the Guard or the galaxy exist." Kepler said, after having stepped forward and receiving the microphone from Kate.

After answering some other questions, they walked off-stage. "Alright, what now?" Ratchet asked Kepler.

Kepler shrugged. "I'd say we hit the jackpot by finding you. The mission was supposed to have taken much longer, but now it's already over, it truly seems as if the time is right for the Lombaxes to come home. All we can do now is wait 'til we get word from Oort."

"Perhaps we can go somewhere now that our duties are done." Clank said with a smile. "I know of a café close by that we can visit about 5 minutes away on foot, Café Polaris."

"Good idea, Clank." Ratchet said, moving his hand behind his back and giving Clank a fist bump. Then he turned to Kepler and Kate. "Does a five minute walk sound alright?"

Kate laughed. "We've never been here in our entire lives! I wouldn't mind seeing more of the wcity!"

"I agree with her." Kepler said. "Lead the way, we'll follow."

During the walk, at Kate's request, Ratchet told them about some of the other worlds he had visited. "A tropical paradise planet in Solana Galaxy? Oh, I gotta see that with my own eyes." Kate said.

"You won’t regret it when you do! Well, looks like we’ve arrived." Ratchet said, pointing at the café’s sign.

As they sat down and enjoyed their café drinks, Ratchet told Kepler and Kate about the dimension he'd grown up in, while Kepler and Kate told him about the Lombax dimension.

"So, it's some kind of tradition that every Lombax kid makes their own ship?" Ratchet asked.

"Why indeed there is!" Kepler said.

Ratchet grinned. "Well, in that case I succeeded. I accidentally crashed it shortly after, but it still was a working ship."

"Oh, you poor thing." Kate said with a chuckle. "Building a ship must've taken you ages."

"Years. Irony is, I got a new ship, for free, mere hours later."

"What?! How?" Kepler asked.

"Well, when you save a major from an invasion they tend to be very grateful, especially if you promise to carry out an order for them."

"Dayum. Remind me when there's another planet in trouble! But I don’t think I’ll be departing from my dear Vega anytime soon, but just in case, hehehe.”

Ratchet chuckled. "Will do."

Meanwhile Clank had been listening with great interest. "If I may ask, what is living in another universe like?"

"Not that different really." Kepler said. "If you'd suddenly wake up in the Lombax dimension, I doubt you'd notice any difference, at least not right away."

"Are there any other intelligent species in the Lombax dimension?"

"Ran into a couple in fact, actually, but we never really built up any relations with them. Things were pretty peaceful in the Lombax dimension, though everyone knows that it's not truly our home, plus we needed to prove that we weren’t going to live in fear forever, as Oort put it in that speech."

Ratchet chuckled. He raised his drink, and Kepler, Clank and Kate all followed his example. "To Operation Lima Charlie Hotel!" four mouths spoke in unison.

"Well, we should get going." Kepler said. "It's getting really late on Fastoon."

"What's sleeping in the camp like?"

"Camp's a camp. It's been a few days since I've had a proper bed."

"You can spend the night at my place."

"Excuse me?" Kate asked.

"My apartment in Meridian City. I've got other places you could use in Solana and Bogon."

Kepler chuckled. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll pass. It wouldn't be fair to the other guys who are working their butts off on Fastoon to get this mission going."

"I agree." Kate said. "If there's one valued thing in the Guard, its honor. Thanks a lot for the offer though."

After dropping off Kepler and Kate at the camp site on Fastoon, Ratchet and Clank flew back to Igliak. "Ratchet?" Clank asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder about the fate of your relatives?"

Ratchet's ears lowered. "I never told you, did I?"

"Told me what?"

"What Alister told me. Both of my parents are dead."

"Oh." Clank said, saddened. "I am sorry for you."

Ratchet shrugged. "It's okay, pal. There's no point in crying about it. Besides, I've got you and Talwyn, and soon enough my whole race to be around."

Clank nodded. "I hope Operation Lima Charlie Hotel is set in motion soon, I cannot imagine what it would be like for all those people now that the time to go home is so near."

Not long after, Ratchet landed right outside his home in Meridian City. He unlocked the door and held it open for Clank. Less than an hour later, both of them were in a deep sleep.


	4. Chapter Four: The seeds of conflict....

It had been three weeks since the Lombax recon mission, and they had made a lot of progress. Under Talwyn's close supervision, the PDF was in charge of setting up temporary living areas, while Oort was tasked with cleaning up Fastoon. In those three weeks Oort's teams had made huge progress with restoring Fastoon, and the first group of Lombaxes was about to make the jump between realities.

 

Ratchet nervously stood among Kepler and Clank, waiting for the portal to appear. Talwyn had ordered for three PDF titan-class warships to guard the area, while a whole team of PDF-soldiers stood guard around the square where the portal would appear.

 

"How long do you think we'll still have to wait?" Ratchet asked Kepler.

 

"It shouldn't take much longer. Likely Oort is informing the group of soon-to-be-home Lombaxes of the heavy presence of the PDF so they don't get spooked. Last thing we want is to have to calm down our own people."

 

Ratchet nodded. He uncomfortably shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "You nervous?" Kepler asked.

 

"How do you know?"

 

Kepler chuckled. "I'd be a terrible Guardsman if I wouldn't notice this. I mean, you're practically one block of nervousness. Can't blame you for feeling that way though, I'm a bit nervous myself, but for different reasons. I'm nervous since we're about to move over several thousand people, and I want this to go right. The whole mission depends on this not going south, so the stakes are pretty high. I'm pretty certain you're nervous because you're about to be truly reunited with your own kind after being separated nearly your whole life."

 

Ratchet nodded.

 

Meanwhile, Talwyn had also noticed Ratchet's nervousness. She walked over to him, taking position to his left. "Hey, there's no need to be nervous." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Whatever happens, we've got your back."

 

"Thanks, Tal."

 

"I am detecting an irregularity in the flow of time." Clank suddenly spoke.

 

"That means they're coming, heads up." Kepler said.

 

And sure enough, the fabric of space and time was warped into a vortex in front of their eyes.

 

The light was blinding, but then, as soon as it started, it was all over. Standing in front of them were around ten thousand Lombaxes, every one of them had their eyes closed.

 

"Lombaxes!" Talwyn spoke. She had set up a whole plan with General Oort, he'd take care of getting the people safely through the portal, and Talwyn would guide them to the camp site. Oort would tell the Lombaxes to close their eyes and not open them until they'd hear Talwyn's voice for safety reasons, and the second she had spoken the word, thousands of eyes opened at once.

 

The Lombaxes looked around in wonder, it had been so long since they had last been here. Ratchet could see Lombaxes burst into tears, he could see parents proudly whispering something to their children, it was filling him with so much joy to see his kind return safe and sound.

 

Talwyn gave them a few minutes to look around before she cleared her throat. "May I have everyone's attention, please?"

 

It went completely silent. "Hello." she began. "I'm Talwyn Apogee, head of the Polaris Defense Force, and on behalf of Polaris, I'd like to welcome you all home."

 

The crowd of ten thousand people applauded.

 

Talwyn nodded. "Beware, though, that although people are hard at work at restoring Fastoon to its former glory, it'll still take months, maybe even years for the project to finish. Therefore, tents have been set up not far away from here which will serve as your temporary homes. You will stay here for five weeks in which you'll be brought up-to-speed considering you've all probably missed most if not all of the stuff that has happened to the universe in the meantime. After those five weeks, you're free to go wherever you want. PDF carriers will be deployed to take you to various locations, from where you will be able to travel further if you wish to do so."

 

The crowd applauded again. Talwyn smiled. "Alright then. Everyone, follow me. A squad of Praetorians will follow after you, if you lose the rest of the group somehow, just stop and yell, we'll find you."

 

The trip to the camp site was without casualties. Save for one maybe, a set of parents lost track of their child in the mass of people. Kepler and Ratchet quickly managed to find the lost young one. "Kid went after a butterfly." Kepler said to the thankful parents. "Can't really blame her, Asfaleia ironically had none despite being a forested planet."

 

Meanwhile, as the Lombaxes claimed their tents and unpacked the bags containing the few belongings they've brought with them, Ratchet was sitting on a ruined building overlooking the camp site. The sight of countless Lombaxes down below, it seemed surreal to him.

 

Clank came walking up to him. "Ratchet, are you alright? You've been very quiet lately."

 

Ratchet glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, pal. I'm okay, it's just that I'm having trouble believing what’s happening right before my eyes."

 

"I cannot blame you." Clank said, sitting down next to him. "It must be the most unusual sight to you."

 

"Trust me, 'unusual' puts it nicely."

 

They both laughed, then an uneasy silence fell upon them. Clank nervously looked at his hands. Should he tell Ratchet about the promise he had made his father?

 

As if Ratchet could read his mind, he whispered "Stay a while, Clank. I was feeling kinda lonely up here."

 

"Then why did you go up here in the first place, Ratchet?"

 

"Because... part of me is scared, you know. I've been isolated from the Lombaxes for so many years, I wonder... if I join them at last, will it change who I am?"

 

Clank shook his head. "It will not. You are you, Ratchet. Meeting your own species will not change who you are at heart, nothing can."

 

"Thanks, pal." Ratchet said, giving Clank a pat on the back. They kept sitting there until sunset. "Well, we better get down there or we'll be late for dinner." Ratchet said. "Old-school style?"

 

Clank chuckled and shook his head as he attached himself to Ratchet's back. "You never change, do you?"

 

"Nope." Ratchet said as he dove off the building, robo-wings deploying mid-flight.

 

He landed right in front of a baffled Kepler. "Uuh... hi."

 

Kepler clapped. "Damn, that was sick!"

 

"Thanks."

 

"I have a gut feeling you're here for food."

 

"Yep."

 

Kepler nodded. "Because of the sheer amount of people, the PDF soldiers and the Praetorians have dinner elsewhere. Follow me."

 

Kepler activated the hoverboots embedded in his armor. "If you can keep up, that is. You do have hoverboots, right?"

 

"Yeah, an old pair." Ratchet said, activating his own hoverboots. "They used to be my father's."

 

"Awesome!" Kepler yelled over his shoulder as he suddenly sped off. Ratchet took off after him.

 

The fields of debris proved to be easily navigable by hoverboots, fallen walls turning into ramps for example. After a few minutes of racing through the debris fields, the two Lombaxes walked into the large building, laughing. It was an old warehouse of some kind, although the building had been supported with steel framework by the PDF to ensure it was stable enough to use as living quarters.

 

Kate came walking up to them. "Hey, Kep. How's it going over at the camp site?"

 

"It's alright." Kepler replied. "People are taking this very seriously. No trouble whatsoever it seems."

 

"Let's hope it stays that way." Kate said. "Anyhow, you two better grab something to eat. Ratchet, uh... what was the name of that robot on your back again?"

 

"My name is Clank." said robot spoke up as he detached himself from Ratchet's back.

 

"Right, thanks. Sorry, I've got so much on my head right now that I forgot for a sec. Anyhow, Clank, the chef's not serving robotic food here, robotic food is served in the room next to this one for safety reasons, since robotic food is extremely harmful to organic life forms and everything. Follow me."

 

Clank waved goodbye to Ratchet before following Kate through the maze of tables.

 

"Well, and that leaves only two of us." Kepler said. "Well, we better follow Kate's advice and grab some food, I don't know about you but I'm starving."

 

"And I'm not far from starving." Ratchet said, following Kepler and taking place in the waiting line. "There's one small problem though, I have no idea what the menu is."

 

"May I make a suggestion?"

 

"I was kinda hoping you'd say that."

 

Kepler chuckled. "Well then, I'll take care of this. You go find an empty table, alright?"

 

"Okay, but how will you find me?"

 

"The PM-7 has a minor bio-scanner, it allows me to identify my allies from a distance. If I close my visor I should have no trouble finding you."

 

"Sounds pretty sweet, the PM-7. Anyhow, I'll get going then."

 

Walking off, Ratchet began to search through the maze of tables, only to find no unoccupied tables.

 

"Hey, Ratchet!"

 

Ratchet turned around and saw a group of Praetorians, each of them wearing a PM-7 armorset, waving at him. He walked over to them. "Can I help you?"

 

"You don't recognize us, do you?" one of the Lombaxes spoke. "Private Liam Rosetta, ring a bell?"

 

Then Ratchet remembered. "Ooh, the members of Sierra-1! Sorry, didn't recognize you with your PM-7 on."

 

"Then that means Elder Pin did a pretty good job at putting them together, eh? Anyhow, you and the Lieutenant can sit here if you'd like."

 

"How did you-"

 

Liam laughed. "I see you looking around with empty hands and Kepler coming up with not one, but two trays of food."

 

"Oooh. Well, I'd gladly take you guys up on that offer." Ratchet said, sitting down. Kepler placed a tray full of food in front of Ratchet a few seconds later, before sitting down next to him.

 

"Hey sir, how are things going on your end?" Liam asked. "You're tasked with keeping the peace at the camp site, right?"

 

"Nail on the head, Liam. Stuff's been quiet, people seem to know how important peace is right now. You've tasked with orbital defense, wasn't it?"

 

"Yep, and I can tell you, there are nothing but friendly ships up there. So far this operation's a huge success."

 

"Eh, there could've been a bit more action in my opinion." another Praetorian Guardsman spoke up.

 

"You sure about that, Tank?" Kepler asked.

 

"Don't take this the wrong way, Sir. It's just, the adrenaline racing through my veins, that's what I joined the Guard for. It makes me feel truly alive. There's no need for adrenaline so far though."

 

"Hmm." Ratchet said. "I'll have a chat with Talwyn, maybe we can get one of those advanced state of the art holographic training areas shipped over here. It's a long shot, but still..."

 

"You got those things here, too? Sick, man! Those things are epic!" Tank said.

 

"You mean, you've been in hologram training before?" Ratchet asked.

 

"Yeah, we got 'em over in the Lombax Dimension too." Pvt. Rosetta said. "We didn't know you guys got them over here, either, though to be honest I’m not surprised you do!"

 

Ratchet laughed.

 

Kate and Clank came walking up to the table. Kate sat down across from Kepler, and Clank sat down next to Ratchet.

 

"We're back." Kate said. There was a strange glistering in her eyes.

 

"Already?" Liam asked. "Strange, all those PDF robots are slow as hell, I expected-"

 

"Me to be slow too." Clank filled in. Then he giggled. "Sorry, but I am much faster than you might think. I am always right on time."

 

Ratchet chuckled. "What's so funny?" Tank asked. "If he made a joke just now, I don't get it."

 

"That's okay." Ratchet said. "It has to do with some of our previous adventures. Anyhow, this is quite fast, pal, even for you. Is everything okay?"

 

"Clank just took a battery pack for dinner." Kate said. "He said that he'd recharge further overnight."

 

"He what now?" Kepler asked. "That's something I've never seen a robot do – recharge overnight. Over in the Lombax dimension, robots use the night to reorganize their data banks for more efficient use or let their processor run at low power to solve some minor problems."

 

"Those are things I do as well, while recharging." Clank said.

 

"It's amazing." Kate said. "Don't ask me why, but Clank seems to be able to convert infrared light into energy, ergo, heat to power."

 

"What?!" Kepler asked. "That's something scientists over in the LD have been trying to accomplish for decades!"

 

"Well, Clank's a special one." Ratchet said. "The person who created him was a true genius."

 

Clank smiled.

 

"Anyhow," Ratchet said, "What happens now?"

 

"Not much." Kepler said. "This is the easy part of the mission, now that we know that there are no hostiles. Thus, as long as nothing supernatural happens, this should be easy."

 

"Hey Ratchet, you haven't touched your food yet." A soldier going by the name of Private Michelle Luna said. "You better start eating or it'll be cold soon."

 

"Oops!" Ratchet said before taking a bite out of his food. "Wow!" he said.

 

"I know, right?" Kepler replied. "I was hoping you'd like it."

 

_Meanwhile, in an unknown location……_

 (Music for this moment: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWbkTqpkPLU>)

 

"You see? They're back!" a scratchy voice hissed. "Those filthy fur-covered-"

 

A raised hand interrupted the figure's monologue. "You're telling me," a high-pitched voice growled, "That those filthy rodents are coming back?!"

 

"Y-yes, sir!"

 

A loud cry of anger followed. "What a perfect time to begin the operation then!" the high-pitched voice growled afterwards. "Get me the largest fleet you can manage. We'll finally smoke them out once and for all. And general?"

 

The owner of the high-pitched voice chuckled darkly. "Paint Fastoon red."

 

As the general hastily got out of the room, the owner of the high-pitched voice pulled the holovision screen closer. "I'll get you this time, Ratchet." Emperor Percival Tachyon chuckled darkly at the screenshot of the news broadcast about the return of the Lombaxes.

 

Tachyon began to walk through the now deserted throne room, laughing louder and louder at the thought of the Lombax he hated the most watching in shock as his race was exterminated before his eyes.

 

"Ah, you didn't get to see my last performance on Fastoon, did you?" Tachyon said with an evil smile. "Well, this time you've got a front row seat. Don't worry though." he said as he grabbed a gun from a pedestal, took aim and fired a round through the part of the holovision that was projecting Ratchet's head. "You'll be joining them soon."

 

Tachyon began to laugh manically, louder and louder. Everyone inside the huge battlecruiser that heard the laugh smiled sadistically….

 

 


	5. Chapter Five: History repeats itself

 

"Get down!"

 

Ratchet didn't have time to see who yelled it, but he hit the deck immediately, and a bullet flew through the space his head had been occupying mere moments earlier. The person who had saved his life was not so lucky however, and fell to the ground, perforated.

 

Ratchet crawled over to the unlucky soldier but there was nothing he could do. Removing the helmet of the dead Lombax made his stomach twist.

 

It was Kepler.

 

Ratchet glanced over his cover and witnessed a massacre. There were dead people everywhere, and the soil was colored red with blood. As if the planet itself was bleeding, the sky had also turned deep crimson in color, with most of the buildings in sight either burning down or already nothing more than smoldering remains of what had been a Lombax structure.

 

"Mister! Help!"

 

Ratchet turned to where the voice came from, and saw a small Lombax child run over to him. Ratchet crawled over to it as fast as he could, making sure to stay behind cover. He reached out to the child to drag it to safety, and as soon as he had taken it's tiny hand he pulled the child behind the relative safety of a few trillium plates that had been blown off a vehicle.

 

"Are you okay?"

 

No answer.

 

Ratchet took a good look at the child, and saw it's eyes roll back into it's skull as a fine trail of blood dripped down it's neck, the gaping hole in the back of it's skull showing what had happened.

 

He had been too late.

 

"Ratchet!"

 

He would recognize that voice anywhere, anytime. "Talwyn!" he cried out as his eyes frantically searched for the Markazian. He found her sitting behind a piece of debris in the distance. She reached out to him, her face radiating forced calmness although her eyes deceived her, showing fear.

 

Ratchet charged out of cover and, as if by some miracle, managed to make it to Talwyn safely. "I'm so glad you're safe." he whispered to her as he tightly wrapped his arms around her.

 

"Ratchet, Clank..."

 

"What's with Clank?"

 

"I couldn't save him. I'm so sorry."

 

Ratchet took a step back to look into her eyes. "Tal, I-"

 

Ratchet was interrupted mid-sentence as a bullet hit her right between the eyes, and she collapsed like a ragdoll.

 

"Ta-"

 

Immediately Ratchet himself was hit by gunfire, his body screaming in agony as round after round drilled it's way through him.

 

He fell to the ground, eyes staring up at the dusty sky of Fastoon. The dark clouds overhead seemed to clear and a huge face lowered itself through the clouds of ash with a frightening, evil laugh. A face Ratchet never wanted to see again.

 

"Your end is nigh, Lombax!" it said before everything went black.

 

Ratchet's eyes shot open. He was sweating.

 

Clank's right eye opened, his friend's panting had not gone unnoticed. "Ratchet, are you alright?"

 

"Yeah... yeah... it's just a nightmare, Clank. Just a nightmare."

 

"Would you prefer to talk about it?"

 

"What's there to say? Basically it was the attack on Fastoon all over again."

 

"You are afraid of history repeating itself."

 

"Yep." Ratchet said, hugging his knees.

 

Clank nodded. "There is nothing to be afraid of, Ratchet. Tachyon is gone and the Cragmites have been locked away."

 

"I know, but... I'm just so scared of losing them all once again."

 

"Maybe you should call them."

 

"Who?"

 

"Lieutenant Kepler or Staff Sergeant Eridani. They will assure you that everything is alright."

 

Ratchet nodded. But then, the phone rang. Ratchet got out of bed and picked it up. "That's strange, it's Talwyn."

 

Clank's other eye opened as well, and the robot got up as well. It was very out of character for Miss Apogee to call in the middle of the night.

 

Ratchet picked up the phone. Clank kept a close eye on Ratchet's face. His jaw dropped when he saw the color leave Ratchet's face. The Lombax just stood there, wobbling a bit, staring off into the distance while holding the phone up to his ear.

 

Then, suddenly, he dropped the phone and stormed into the bathroom. A moment later, Clank heard Ratchet throw up.

 

Fear began to take hold of the robot's processor as he picked up the dropped phone. "Clank, is everything alright over there?"

 

"No, I believe Ratchet is currently emptying his stomach in our bathroom. What did you tell him that made him this upset?"

 

"Clank, you better brace yourself as well. About an hour ago, several huge ships came warping in over Fastoon, approaching the planet. Of course, they were noticed immediately, and the PDF tried to get in contact with the fleet to tell them to adjust their course. Our calls remained unanswered, greatly unnerving everyone on Fastoon.

 

Then the ships began to open fire. Thankfully they attacked during the night, since there's a lights-out rule they didn't find the camp immediately, the first few bombs were dropped hundreds of miles away from the camp site, but the goal of the ships was clear. The PDF and the LPG are currently trying to evacuate the startled citizens before they get a lucky hit, but we need help. Get here ASAP. Talwyn out."

 

Clank put the phone down on the table. No wonder Ratchet was so upset. He walked into the bathroom, where he found his friend sitting against the wall. Ratchet was shivering.

 

The little robot wrapped his arms around his closest friend, sitting next to him. They sat there for five minutes before Clank dared to speak. "Is everything alright?" Clank asked.

 

Ratchet shook his head.

 

"Ratchet, no Lombax was injured thus far, but they need our help, and if we do not arrive soon, people will definitely die."

 

Ratchet sighed and got up. "We better get going then. Thank goodness we're in a hotel on Kerravin f instead of Igliak, otherwise we'd have a long way to go."

 

Clank nodded as he pulled Ratchet's Holoflux armor out of his chest compartment. "We should get going." he said, giving the armor to his friend before leaving the bathroom. "I will gather some weaponry and get Aphelion ready. You should change into something more combat-ready and drink some water."

 

"Got it." Ratchet's voice came through the door.

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

"Why the hell is it taking so long for Ratchet and Clank to get here?!" Kepler yelled at Kate over the sound of explosions.

 

"Dunno!" Kate yelled back before pressing her right hand against her ear. "Bravo-four, explosive inbound, move to the right!"

 

"Copy that!" A Praetorian shouted back over the communications.

 

As soon as the attack had started, the LPG and PDF had separated the civilians into groups, and right now every group was being brought to a nearby square where a portal to the safety of the Lombax Dimension would be waiting for them. Sierra-1 was also in charge of safely bringing a group to the portal, but that didn't mean that they didn't keep an eye out for the other groups.

 

Kate had successfully calculated the trajectory of an incoming missile and warned a group's leaders in time, resulting in three thousand people that were still breathing because of her fast action.

 

Or at least she thought.

 

"Missile hit confirmed, we couldn't get away in time. Roughly two hundred people KIA, thousands still active."

 

Lieutenant Kepler and Pvt. Rosetta lead the front of the group, corporal Zwicky and Pvt. Luna kept an eye on the back while staff sergeant Centauri and Sgt. Aphophis were in the middle of the group.

 

Kate also walked up front, but was mostly focused on noticing enemy fire in time so that Kepler and Rosetta could lead the group to safety.

 

Kate noticed something, and she signaled Kepler to hold position. The group stopped.

 

"I thought I saw movement there." she said, pointing at the stars.

 

Kepler and Rosetta also looked up. "Shit! It's another missile!" Rosetta suddenly cried out as he saw one of the stars indeed move. It was heading straight for them.

 

Suddenly a ship flew in front of the missile, grabbing it with an energy-tether and throwing it back at the warships.

 

"What is-" Rosetta said before Kepler cut him off. "It's a Lombax ship! That has to be Aphelion!"

 

And indeed, Aphelion was flying around the area.

 

"How did that missile find us?" Kate asked. "We've been hiding behind rubble all the time, not to mention that it's dark."

 

Kepler suddenly heard something over the radio. He pressed his right hand against his ear.

  

(Kate (left) and Kepler (right) In their pm-7 armor, Images done by <http://xenomind.deviantart.com/>)

 

 

 

It was static at first, but then a voice came through. It was Ratchet's. "Clank says they're using thermal missiles, hide! I'll use Aphelion's afterburners to wreak havoc with the sensors if necessary, but stay out of sight at all times!"

 

"Got it." Kepler responded. He turned to his comrades. "It was Ratchet. According to Clank they're using thermals, we've got to stick to cover full-time."

 

"Maybe the old subway tunnels could help?" Kate asked.

 

"Are you insane?" Rosetta asked. "Those things got wrecked, there's no way they're stable!"

 

"We're not far from the Fastoon Renovation Project, the tunnels have been restored there."

 

"But that'll wreck everything a second time!"

 

"That or the lives of three thousand people." Kate said. "Your call."

 

"Fine." Liam sighed. "We'll go through the FRP."

 

Meanwhile Talwyn was at the portal site. PDF ships were currently battling the enemy fleet, while two of them shielded the portal site.

 

Talwyn noticed the little Lombax ship flying around up there. "Be safe, Ratchet." She mumbled before turning to the PDF soldiers behind her. "Alright, people, listen up. Once that portal opens, defend it with your life. Let nothing hostile through. First group should be here in a few seconds lead by team Bravo-four, which is in turn lead by lieutenant Taylor. Now stand back."

 

The portal opened. Sure enough, Bravo-four arrived at the scene, and all surviving civilians were quickly sent through the portal.

 

Minutes went by that seemed like hours while Ratchet kept defending the skies and kept attracting enemy fire, the PDF ships were beginning to overwhelm the enemy fleet thanks to his help, and the shield around the portal site was still at full capacity.

 

But then the enemy changed their fighting style. The fleet suddenly charged forward and fired everything they had at the portal shield. The shields' power began to decline rapidly, and immediately PDF ships moved to defend the portal. They were successful in their defense, until one last rocket hit the shield, and it flickered out of existence. "Dammit!" Talwyn yelled. "Shields are down!"

 

Then she noticed something. There was a hostile ship incoming from behind. "Ratchet, enemy at six, move to intercept! If they hit this place it's over!"

 

"Copy that!" Ratchet replied. He engaged the enemy ship immediately. "Ratchet, I have made a scan of the model of these ships, the fuel tanks should be located in the lower half of the vessel."

 

"Got it." Ratchet said, focusing fire. He managed to hit a weak spot of some kind as the ship began to blow up shortly after. It did manage to fire one last missile however, and none of the PDF ships would be able to stop it in time.

 

"Aphelion, any ideas?" Ratchet asked in desperation.

 

"Yes." the ship replied. "But you will not like it."

 

"Anything to save these people."

 

"Exactly." the ship replied. "I will not let people die again. It's been an honor to serve you."

 

"Wait, wha-"

 

Aphelion opened her windshield. Clank realized what she was about to do and pressed his hand against the console. About a second later they were ejected. Ratchet quickly grabbed Clank, and began his descent. He watched as Aphelion shot forward... and slammed into the missile.

 

"Aphelion!" Ratchet yelled as it began to rain debris.

 

Meanwhile Talwyn saw the explosion. She collapsed. "Miss Apogee!" A PDF soldier yelled immediately. "Are you alright?"

 

"I... I... I... no. I feel nauseous."

 

"Should I get you some water?"

 

Talwyn stayed silent as she watched the debris rain.

 

"They're... they're gone. Ratchet and Clank... I... who else do I have left to live for? First my father, then Cronk and Zephyr, and now... now the only friends I had left."

 

For a few moments nothing happened but the sounds of the wind and explosions, both of which seemed lightyears away to Talwyn.

 

She didn't notice the missile slamming into a ship above her head, or the chunk of debris that landed dangerously close to her. At this point she could've been hit with a chunk of metal and she wouldn't have noticed as she mourned the loss of her two closest friends.

 

Her vision got increasingly worse, indicating that she was about to faint, but she couldn't care less.

 

"Talwyn!"

 

Or could she? She forced her eyes open. Part of her didn't want to search for Ratchet because she knew he had died, but something in her heart kept pushing her.

 

There she noticed him. He had a few cuts and bruises due to a rough landing, but Ratchet was still breathing. He jumped off the building he was on and landed near her.

 

Talwyn got up and ran over to Ratchet. She pulled him into an embrace immediately. "Oh, thank Orvus you're alright!"

 

"Aphelion is gone." Ratchet said, ears lowered.

 

"I'm so sorry for your loss." Talwyn said.

 

"I disagree with that notion." Clank said.

 

"You what now?"

 

"When I realized what Aphelion was about to do, I managed to extract the A.I."

 

"Which means?"

 

"Aphelion's memories and personality are safe."

 

"What?!"

 

Clank's eyes suddenly took on a blue color. "Yes, I live within Clank now." Clank said with Aphelion's voice. "This will take some time to get used to. But this is not my body, I will let Clank regain control now."

 

Clank shook his head as he felt very dizzy. "That was perhaps the strangest sensation I have ever felt, someone else taking control of your own body."

 

"You're not kidding." Ratchet said. "C'mon, we've got to get these people to safety and the sooner we do that, the better."

 

"Agreed." Clank said as he climbed onto Ratchet's back.

 

"Heads up, Webb and her team is coming in." Talwyn informed them.

 

Sure enough, a group of civilians guided by five LPG soldiers arrived. One of the soldiers walked up to Talwyn. "Sergeant Alice Webb, at your service." she said, panting, as she shook Talwyn's hand.

 

"Good to have you all here safe and sound, Webb. Now hurry up, the sooner we get these people to safety the better."

 

Webb's team was followed by several others before it became awfully quiet. "Ma'am, do we have them all?" a PDF soldier yelled of the sounds of explosions.

 

"Negative, still waiting for Kepler's group. Kate, pick up damn it!" Talwyn yelled back, desperately trying to get in touch with them.

 

"What route where they supposed to take?" Ratchet asked.

 

"West, through Boltcaster Plaza."

 

"I'll go look for them." Ratchet said, activating his hoverboots and speeding off before Talwyn could protest.

 

Speeding through the debris of the city, Ratchet made sure to keep a low profile, avoiding clearings and using walls to his advantage.

 

Soon enough he arrived at Boltcaster Plaza. The once huge shopping mall had been reduced to rubble.

 

Ratchet deactivated his hoverboots. "Kepler? Kate?" he yelled over the explosions and the howling wind.

 

No answer.

 

Ratchet entered what remained of the mall. He gasped.

 

On the other side, he saw a group of Lombaxes. Some of them were bleeding, others were carrying unconscious others.

 

He recognized Kepler and Kate's figures near a pile of rubble. He ran over to them.

 

"The hell is keeping you guys?" he asked.

 

Kepler glanced over his shoulder. "Damn attackers blew a part of the mall, and some Lombaxes got stuck under the rubble. Aphophis and Luna are currently digging their way through, we have to hold position."

 

Ratchet shook his head. "At least get these people out of there. I'll help with the debris."

 

Kepler bit his lip, then nodded. "Alright then. But the thing is, nobody has time to count, if I get there with this group they're gonna scream 'job well done' and bye bye portal while there are still people here. How do I keep the portal open?"

 

Ratchet frowned, then smiled. "I got it. Kep, go ahead alone and inform them of the situation. Kate! You, Clank, Zwicky and Centauri get these people out of here. Rosetta, Luna and Aphophis are staying with me. Is there any evidence that they're alive?"

 

"Walk closer and you'll hear them scream for help." Kepler said, frowning. "Alright then, see you all at the portal. Good luck."

 

He sped off with his hoverboots, the group of Lombaxes soon following along with Zwicky and Centauri at the back of the group and Kate and Clank up front.

 

"Alright." Ratchet said, walking up to Luna and Aphophis. "And progress?"

 

"I'm lucky enough to be wearing an experimental PM-8, a heavy work in progress upgrade of the PM-7 that boosts the user's strength. It's far from finished but at least I can lift these rocks with Richard's help, he's always been bulky." Luna replied.

 

"You know it." 'Tank' Aphophis yelled as he threw away a boulder his own size.

 

"Alright." Ratchet said, slamming his wrench under a few rocks and cranking it up so that Luna and Tank could throw it off.

 

"How are those people still alive anyways?"

 

"Some of the metal support of the building is keeping this from coming down on top of them." Luna said. "But we gotta hurry, as you can imagine two hundred people in a small area means very little oxygen per person."

 

"I think I see something." Tank said, lifting up another boulder. "Looks like a tail."

 

Sure enough, they found a silver tail, and shortly after it's owner.

 

"Argh! Thanks a bunch, I couldn't move!" The Lombax replied. Like Luna had said, the metal support had come down on the people in a dome-like formation, the Lombax whose tail they had freed had been pushed against the inside of the dome.

 

"Richard, on my mark." Luna said, grabbing a metal bar. "One... two... three... pull!"

 

Both Lombaxes pulled with all their might, and soon enough they had created a hole big enough for a Lombax to fit through.

 

Ratchet climbed in and began lifting people up slightly with the help of a few other Lombaxes so that Luna and Tank could pull them out.

 

Suddenly, Luna saw something out of the corner of her eye. "SHIT! THEY'RE GUNNING FOR US!" she yelled. "Move, move, move!"

 

The crowd of 193 Lombaxes scattered. "No!" Tank yelled. "Stick with us, dammit!"

 

"What about us?" Ratchet yelled, inside the dome. No answer, Tank and Luna were too busy with getting the people to safety.

 

Ratchet turned around, and looked at the remaining people. A family with two children. Some Lombaxes had been killed by the rubble, and Ratchet tried his best to ignore the few pairs of feet, some of them eerily small, belonging to those crushed by the debris.

 

"Okay, we’re gonna need teamwork here." Ratchet said. "You," he said, pointing at the mother, "Help me lift your husband up so he can climb out!"

 

Soon enough, the husband was outside. Ratchet lifted up the smallest child, a three year old infant, the child's father taking the child.

 

Then the rocket hit. Ratchet closed his eyes as he heard an ear-deafening explosion.

 

When he opened his eyes, he found himself half crushed by rubble. "Hey..." he groaned at the father who he had helped escape. “Help me..."

 

The father, who had been sent flying, quickly got up. He had successfully protected his son, but he couldn't prevent some rocks from hitting him badly. Nevertheless he quickly freed Ratchet. "We must do something!" he yelled. "My wife and daughter are in there!"

 

"I'm sorry." Ratchet said. "There's no way they could've survived that."

 

The father collapsed, Ratchet was barely able to catch him. "Hey! Now is not the time! We must get out of here, now!"

 

Meanwhile, Kepler had arrived at the portal and had informed Talwyn of the situation. Kate and Clank came running at them a few minutes later with a majority of the group that were quickly sent through the portal. Talwyn's heart broke when she noticed a mother with an infant in her arms, while the child had been killed. She just couldn't say goodbye.

 

Shortly after, Luna and Tank arrived with the remaining people.

 

"Missile!" a PDF soldier suddenly cried out, having spotted a thermal missile gunning for the group of people approaching the portal.

 

"Run, damn it!" Luna cried out, diving aside so everyone had a clear path to the portal.

 

Then Tank spotted something happening in the backlines.

 

A badly wounded mother with her eight-year-old son on her shoulders was giving it all she had, but Tank could tell she wasn't strong enough. He ran in her direction, but it was too late. The missile hit, and a shower of burning debris was sent their way.

 

The mother knew she wouldn't make it, but she had one last hope. One look into her eyes told him what to do. "Luna!"

 

Luna came running just in time to witness the mother throw her child with a last bit of strength before she was hidden from view by chunks of sandstone and metal. Luna dove forward and caught the child, rolling across the ground for a few meters before finally coming to a halt. She got up and watched as Tank tried to clear the debris to get clarity on the woman's fate.

 

"Where is mommy?" the eight-year-old in Luna's arms asked.

 

Luna watched as Tank threw some boulders away before stopping, indicating he had found something. He turned to Luna, and shook his head.

 

"Your mom... I'm sorry, kiddo." Luna said, wrapping her arms around the child as it cried in rage and pain, Luna trying her best to comfort it.

 

Meanwhile Talwyn was searching for signs of Ratchet. When she was about to lose hope, however...

 

"Over here!"

 

It was Ratchet. He was carrying a wounded Lombax on his back and had an infant in his arms. PDF soldiers immediately came to his aid, taking the man and child from him and helping them through the portal.

 

Then Ratchet collapsed due to fatigue. Kepler ran over to him. "Ratchet! Are they all safe?!"

 

"Everyone... but two... lost them... trapped." Ratchet mumbled before losing consciousness.

 

A few hours later, aboard Tachyon's mothership...

 

"You tell him!" one Cragmite said to another, smaller Cragmite.

 

"Hey, you're the general the Emperor charged with this mission!"

 

"I'm your superior, you tell him, lieutenant!"

 

The general was about to turn tail and leave the lieutenant before the words of his Emperor made both him and the lieutenant freeze.

 

"If you two imbeciles don't come in here and tell me what I need to know, you'll have no more mouth to tell anyone anything with by the end of this day." Tachyon said, clearly annoyed by the incompetence of the two people standing outside his door.

 

The two Cragmites finally entered, opening the large doors with some effort, just as designed. The fact that the throne room was massive was also no coincidence, as any and all that entered had to walk quite a distance.

 

And Tachyon himself would be sitting there, watching them with every step, feeding their fear all the way until his unlucky visitor would be so unnerved by the time they had finally reached him that Tachyon could manipulate them with terrifying ease.

 

The fact that Tachyon had several statues of creatures that were frozen just as they were about to die a horrible death only boosted this effect through the roof.

 

A lump formed in the throats of the two Cragmites as they approached the emperor, each creature that they passed, frozen in its final moments, being an indication of the fate that could be awaiting them.

 

They halted before their emperor, who was sitting on his throne, browsing through some documents regarding the technology of the Polaris Defense Force.

 

He looked up from his papers. "Well?"

 

Both Cragmites standing before him stayed silent, sweating liquid fear. Although seeing them in this state was enjoyable, they were currently wasting his time.

 

Suddenly, Tachyon's annoyance vanished like snow on the surface of a star, and his lips curled into a grin, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

 

"Well, now. What has caught one of my most skilled generals and a fabled lieutenant at a loss for words? Why are you torturing yourselves, fine gentlemen? After all, Fastoon has been leveled, has it not?"

 

The way he put a little extra pressure on those last two words only made the two Cramites sweat bullets.

 

Suddenly, Tachyon snapped. "You." he commanded, pointing a finger at the general. "Tell me what happened on Fastoon."

 

"Ah-I... uh... uh..."

 

Tachyon raised an eyebrow, his face showing no emotion but a tiny bit of impatience. "Tick-tock. Spit it out, general! Has Fastoon been leveled, yes or no?"

 

"We, uh... we, uh... it seems we underestimated the integrity of the Polaris Defense Force. We could not breach their defenses in time to kill of a significant amount of people."

 

The general closed his eyes, preparing himself for a shower of rage, but it never came, making the general slowly reopen his eyes.

 

Instead, Tachyon was sitting back in his seat, though something was off.

 

"So, let me sum it up." he said, folding his hands as he watched the general with an emotionless stare. "You had more forces than the Polaris Defense Force?"

 

"Yes, your highness."

 

The general realized what was going on when he saw Tachyon's right eye twitch for a brief moment. The way his emperor was shaking slightly, the way his eyes seemed off - his emperor was trying his best to keep it back, but rage was building up inside him, and like a volcano, it would only be a matter of time before Tachyon would erupt with fury.

 

"A majority of the Lombaxes got away?" Tachyon asked.

 

The general bit his lip. He really didn't want to answer out of fear of what would happen, but he knew a fellow general that had once tried that. He passed said general's frozen form earlier.

 

"Yes, my emperor."

 

Tachyon carefully laid down his paperwork, although his tremor got worse and worse. The Cragmite emperor closed his eyes, taking short, shaky breaths.

 

Suddenly he opened his eyes. "You useless vermin! You incompetent nobody! You had more ships than the Defense Force and enough power to flatten the whole planet!"

 

"But-but-but sir! I-I-I didn't mean to! A-Accidents happen!"

 

Tachyon let out a roar of pure rage as he grabbed the pistol he kept at his hip. He got angrier and angrier as he aimed the weapon at the cowering general, finger tightening around the trigger. "I'll put one right between your eyes, you ignorant, unworthy, disobedient little-"

 

"We captured two!" the lieutenant suddenly cried out.

 

Tachyon froze. "Repeat!" he barked.

 

"We have been able to secure two Lombaxes, your imperial highness. A mother and her daughter by the looks of it. They have a few cuts and bruises but they are still breathing. What are your orders, my emperor?"

 

"Well, well, well." Tachyon said as he slowly lowered his weapon. "It seems that there is at least one competent person in this room other than myself. He grinned evilly. "Lieutenant, I want you to personally monitor the transfer of our prisoners to the cell blocks. Feel free to, how shall I put this, 'experiment' on them. Make sure you and your men have a fun time breaking these two inferior creatures, just remember two things. One - extract as much information as you can, and two - do not kill them. No matter what. Slap them, torture them, starve them, burn them, I do not care what you do to them, as long as they are still breathing by the end of it. They may not feel the relief of death until I personally hand it to them. Is that understood?"

 

"Yes, my emperor." the lieutenant replied while the general gave him a death glare.

 

"Good. You're both dismissed. Begone." Tachyon said as he picked up his paperwork again. Suddenly, his evil grin faded. He had forgotten something.

 

Suddenly, the general stopped walking. The lieutenant stopped. "What?"

 

"I... I can't move my legs! Or my arms!" the general cried out.

 

"Ah, yes, that would be my doing." Tachyon said when the general glanced over his shoulder. Tachyon put away the smoking Statis Pistol before slowly climbing off his throne. "There is one last request I have for you, general. To help me test a little... 'toy'."

 

"No! No, no, no! I won't fail you again, my lord!" the Cragmite cried out.

 

"No." Tachyon said, revealing the latest addition to his personal weaponry, a weapon specifically designed for only one goal. Tachyon aimed the appropriately-named Vengeance Rifle before squeezing the trigger. "You are correct, you won't."

 

The general let out a scream of fear as an orange beam shot out of the barrel of the Vengeance Rifle and drilled right through him. After two seconds, it stopped. To the general's surprise, the beam had not hurt him in any way or form, and a relieved smile formed on his face two seconds later.

 

But then he picked up a sound. It was barely audible.

 

Tachyon was whispering something. "Seven... eight... nine... ten."

 

Suddenly, the general felt something within his chest. A strange, burning sensation began to spread through his body, as if thousands of insects crawled through him. Tachyon grinned evilly. "Brilliant, is it not, general? Reverse-engineering the very nanobots responsible for the healing power of nanotech, but with the complete opposite goal?"

 

"What do you mean, your highness? What is this feeling?"

 

Tachyon's grin grew wider and wider as the general realized what was going on.

 

The general let out a scream of intense pain as his body was being dissolved from the inside, the nanites fired into his system destroying his tissue at a frightening rate.

 

The death screams of the failed general as he was being eaten alive by microscopic machines was like music to Tachyon's ears, who sat back and watched the spectacle.

 

Meanwhile the lieutenant felt more nauseous by the second.

 

The last thing the general registered before his brain was eaten alive by a swarm of nanobots was a final sarcastic comment from the emperor he had disappointed.

 

"You'll look great next to your frozen colleague over there."

 

Soon enough holes began to appear in the skin of the general. Suddenly, however, it stopped, as Tachyon pulled out a bulky, white weapon that froze the general in a block of ice instantly.

 

The lieutenant watched the horror show before him. The man that he had been bickering with mere minutes earlier, frozen in pure terror and pain. The various holes burned into his skin by the nanites showed a system of caverns dug into his tissue, often exposing bone and guts.

 

Suddenly, the voice of Emperor Tachyon brought the lieutenant back to reality. "Be on your way, lieutenant. And do me a favor and send my thanks to the creator of these magnificent pieces of technology." the Cragmite emperor said as he hid the Vengeance Rifle and Permafrost Cannon behind his throne.

 

The lieutenant unsteadily walked out of the throne room and closed the door behind him, and fearfully walked away a Cragmite who would surely not fail his emperor now.

 

 

(Image once again by: <http://kina-axian.tumblr.com/>)  



	6. Chapter Six: Familiar Faces

** **

 

"People, we will not take this low act lightly." General Oort said, his appearance visible on the monitor. "We've suffered tonight, losing innocent souls that we promised the safety of home. And we all know that, unless we take down the bastards behind this low act, there's not gonna be any safety here either, no matter what we're promised."

 

"So what happens now?" Private Rosetta asked, having raised his hand.

 

"Now?" Oort said, turning to face the group of people. "Now we're gonna find these sons of bitches. Captain Apogee, any reports on the model of those spacecraft?"

 

"Yes." Talwyn said, stepping forward. "While the main focus was defense, I had several soldiers snap pictures and make scans of the attacking ships. Several PDF 'Sentinel' orbital drones also provided detailed information."

 

"What have you been able to find?"

 

Talwyn paused for a moment. "The ships strangely match the style of the Galactic Rangers over in Solana."

 

"Whatever the hell they came from, they're going down. Any attempts at contact on their end?"

 

"Negative. We haven't reached out to them either to avoid giving away our location."

 

"Good. Now, blast 'em down with those recently installed TG-M9 surface-to-space anti-ship missiles, maybe we can find out something about who is behind this."

 

"But General," Talwyn protested, "Don’t you think we should contact Solana first, see if they have any idea as to what the hell is going on?"

 

"We don’t have time, Apogee, we need to strike them now! Now where are those missiles?"

 

Lieutenant Taylor raised his hand. "Sir, Bravo-four has attempted to launch the missiles remotely, but failed. The only option seems to be manually launching the rockets over at the launch site, which we’ve lost all contact with."

 

"Well," Oort said, "then go ahead and find out what’s going on at that control center. You might as well learn something about the bastards behind this. Bravo-four and Sierra-one, you are both tasked with going there. Webb, I want you and your team to guard this place. We've got injured soldiers here, the least we can do is keep 'em alive. Are my orders understood?"

 

Webb stood up. "Sir, yes sir! I'll get to it right away!" she said before storming out of the room.

 

"Alright then. Sierra-1, rise!" Kepler said, standing up. "Time to kick some ass."

 

(Praetorian guard Emblem, made by <http://the--magpie.deviantart.com/>)

 

He glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry for the informality, General."

 

Oort burst out laughing. "You kidding' me? Go ahead and wipe their faces off our planet!"

 

Kepler nodded. "Alright. Taylor, what’s the plan?"

 

"Private Laniakea is already on-site, he's my team's sniper. He suggested we breach the entrances and enter simultaneously."

 

"Sounds like a plan!"

 

Kepler offered his hand and Taylor shook it. "Let’s do this."

 

_A little while later…._

 

"Visual on objective." Kepler said as Sierra-1 arrived at the launch site. They could see the base in the distance. "Bravo, status?"

 

"In position, Sierra. Hawk says he’s detected lots of energy spikes in the building, consistent with the presence of plasma weapons, so these fools are clearly ready for a fight."

 

Kepler nodded. "Well, so are we. Ready to roll?"

 

"I'm nicknamed 'Lawnmower' for a reason." Taylor responded with a laugh. "Let's ice em."

 

The Praetorians breached and entered through two doors on opposing sides of the building. "Hostiles at eleven." Kepler signaled to his team as he picked up sounds coming from the left. "Tank, you take point, we'll cover you."

 

Tank did as he was told, taking position in front of the door. As soon as Kepler raised his hand, he kicked down the door. He entered immediately, followed by Staff Sergeant Eridani and Private Luna, and finally Kepler, Zwicky and Rosetta.

 

The faces they saw would rock them to the core. "Cragmites?!" Kate stammered.

 

"Lombaxes!" the twelve Cragmites who had been playing a game cried out. The hostiles immediately reached for their weapons, only to be mowed down by Sierra-1. "Bravo, we're dealing with Craggys!" Kepler radioed.

 

"What?! Sierra, repeat!" Taylor responded.

 

"Cragmites!"

 

Taylor's eyes narrowed. "Oh, those sons of bitches couldn't resist, could they? But how the hell did they get here in the first place?"

 

Taylor signaled for Corporal Javier 'Titan' Cluster to take point outside a room on the second floor, Sierra-1 would take care of the first floor.

 

Like with Sierra-1, taking was coming from behind this door. The schematics that Oort had sent to them revealed that this was the room they needed to be in.

 

Behind this door lay a huge control center. "Titan, you ready?" Taylor asked. Titan gave him a thumbs up in response. "Now!" he yelled, and immediately Titan kicked down the door, deploying a defensive barrier immediately as he stormed into the room, the rest of Bravo-4 following immediately.

 

Bravo-4 didn't wait for their enemies to even react. "Eat it!" Taylor yelled as he brought his light machine gun to bear.

 

As Taylor mowed down most of the opposition, Staff sergeant Andromeda and Private Parallax shot any hostile attempting to flank them. "Hawk, status?" Taylor yelled through the comms.

 

"We've got company." Private Alex 'Hawk' Laniakea responded. "Two vehicles inbound, twenty hostiles."

 

Taylor heard an explosion through the comms. "Scratch that, one vehicle inbound, ten hostiles."

 

"Roger. Sierra-1, vehicle inbound, Hawk says ten hostiles max."

 

"Got it." Kepler replied. "We'll welcome them."

 

"Barrier won't hold forever!" Titan said as more and more enemy fire was focused on it.

 

"We won't be needing it much longer." Taylor said as he mowed down some last opponents dumb enough to expose themselves before his weapon ran out of ammo. Switching to his battle rifle, Taylor charged into the fray, covered by Titan who got to work with a grenade launcher, forcing enemies out of hiding so the rest of Bravo-4 could get rid of them.

 

Soon enough it was silent in the control center. "Sierra-1, area secure!"

 

"Copy that, we've dealt with the hostiles here. Hawk's position has been compromised he's moving to a secure vantage point."

 

"Understood. Proceeding to launch the missiles."

 

True to their word, Bravo-4 got to work on the missiles. Corporal Javier 'Titan' Cluster began to hack the system, forcing a missile launch as Private Parallax and Staff Sergeant Andromeda took point at the entrance to the room while Taylor stayed ready to help either of the two groups.

 

"Taylor, I found a problem." Cluster said. "Seems like those Cragmites were smarter than they looked, they got rid of most of the fuel. There's still some backup fuel, but I can't transfer it from here, and there's enough for only one missile."

 

"Got it. Andromeda, you get down there with that grapple of yours, I'll take over your position."

 

"I copy." Staff sergeant Andromeda said as she ran up to the window observing the launch bay and jumped right through it.

 

Plummeting into the depths, she avoided a painful death at the bottom of the launch bay by firing a wrist-mounted grappling hook at a support girder above her, swinging herself to the other side. "Dammit! It's a trap!" she cried out as she was immediately forced to take cover, with twenty Cragmites closing in on her.

 

"Kep, launch bay, crisis!" Taylor cried out, proceeding to unload more fire on the enemy.

 

"We've got a situation in the launch bay! Rosetta, you're the fastest around here, run!"

 

Private Rosetta nodded, and sprinted off immediately while the rest of his team dealt with the group of Cragmites trying to take back the control center.

 

Jumping down into the launch bay, Rosetta jumped from catwalk to catwalk before he finally saw what was happening. Andromeda was doing the best she could, but outnumbered six-to-one the odds of her coming out on top were small.

 

As he dropped down to the floor, one of the Cragmites pulled her helmet off and pulled on her ears. Andromeda roared in pain before a gun barrel was forced into her mouth. "Say goodbye!" the owner of the weapon said with a malicious smile, before the weapon was suddenly kicked out of his hand.

 

"Surprise, assholes!" Rosetta said, firing his dual combat pistols and gunning down two other Cragmites immediately. Andromeda used the moment to break free and grab a disc mounted to the back of her suit. It extended into a double-ended wrench immediately.

 

She immediately knocked out a Cragmite and engaged another in combat, while Rosetta dealt with the other two Cragmites that were still on their feet.

 

Andromeda's opponent tried to hit her with the back of his gun with the intention of breaking her nose, but she countered and went for an overhead strike, knocking him out.

 

While Rosetta shot down one of the two other Cragmites, however, the other one unsheathed a knife. They didn't notice it until it was too late.

 

"Watch out!" Rosetta yelled as the Cragmite attempted to stab her. He jumped at the Cragmite, pushing him aside before he could deal a lethal blow. He couldn't prevent him from dealing critical damage though.

 

Andromeda fell to the ground, blood flowing out of a stab wound. Rosetta attempted to throw a punch at the Cragmite, but the Cragmite was stronger, throwing Rosetta off and against the wall.

 

Rosetta fell to his knees, but quickly got back up and attempted to fire one of his weapons, only to have it smacked out of his hand. The Cragmite raised his own weapon, only to suddenly freeze as a gunshot echoed through the area.

 

Andromeda was lying on the ground, holding a smoking gun in her left hand. "Now we're even." she groaned.

 

"Kepler, we've got one wounded, hostiles eliminated. We've got an unconscious one here, possible target for interrogation."

 

"Copy that. Apophis is coming to extract the prisoner. Need anyone to help you with the wounded?"

 

"No, I've got this." he said, picking up Andromeda.

 

Then, all of a sudden, the 'unconscious' Cragmite got back up and began to fire his weapon. "Crap!" Rosetta yelled, running off with his wounded comrade in his arms. "What's your name?" Andromeda asked.

 

"Rosetta."

 

"Rosetta, I have a grappling hook embedded in my armor."

 

"Got it." Rosetta said, running to the edge of the platform. "Hold on."

 

Andromeda wrapped one arm around him, and fired the grapple, swinging them in the direction of the control room. Mid-swing, Andromeda retracted the cable and fired it again, sending them on a trajectory toward the control room, where Bravo-four already stood ready to catch them.

 

Suddenly however, Rosetta let go.

 

"Rosetta!" Andromeda yelled.

 

"I got this!" Rosetta yelled, landing on a catwalk. "Get her to safety, I'll fix the missile!" he yelled at the control room, getting a nod from Taylor in response.

 

Rosetta ran from catwalk to catwalk, dodging the bullets the Cragmite sent his way. Growling, the Cragmite picked up the weapon of a fallen comrade and aimed it at Rosetta's head, before pulling the trigger.

 

Nothing happened though. That's when the Cragmite realized that the barrel had been bent sideways by Tank, who was standing next to him and giving him a death glare. “You dun goofed buddy.” Tank said as he threw a punch.

 

Meanwhile Rosetta had reached the emergency fuel supplies and began to mess with the pumps. "Guys, I need help here!"

 

"Calm down!" Titan yelled. "Enter the code XC10-12B7-5A11-G5C1 and it should work automatically!"

 

And indeed, after entering the codes, one of the missiles filled up with fuel. "Transfer complete!" Rosetta yelled up at Titan.

 

"FIRING NOW!" Titan yelled, igniting the engines of the missile, and up it went, destroying the biggest of the hostile ships.

 

"Watchman? Mission success." Hawk sent as he saw the ship come down. "Returning to base."

 

"Excellent!" Oort responded. "Any casualties?"

 

"One prisoner, one injured. I see Pvt. Rosetta racing to base with someone in his arms as we speak, get medics ready."

 

"Copy that. Watchman out!"

 

_A Few Hours later_

 

"How is she doing?" Rosetta asked the medic coming out of the tent in which injured soldiers could rest.

 

"Staff Sergeant Clarisse Andromeda? No fighting for her for at least three days. Nanotech will have her patched up soon, but that was a pretty close call. Kudos to you for bringing her here quickly."

 

"Thanks, doc. Can I go in? I have some belongings of her."

 

The medic stepped aside. "Be my guest."

 

Rosetta entered the tent. He saw Ratchet in another bed, he was talking to Talwyn, who was sitting on a chair next to the bed. He walked over to the bed that had staff sergeant Andromeda in it. "Hey." he said.

 

She opened her eyes. "Hey." she said with a smile. "It's you! Thanks for saving me back there."

 

"No prob, you'd have done the same for any of us." he said with a smile. "Here, I think these belong to you."

 

He gave her her helmet and OmniWrench, which was retracted again. "I know I shouldn't say this, but you should really switch to the PM-7 to avoid things like this. The PM-6 is outdated for a reason.

 

Now that they weren't running for their life, Rosetta could finally get a good look at her. Clarisse Andromeda was a bit smaller than him, she had golden fur, her hair was slightly lighter in color, and she had blue eyes.

 

He sat down on a chair next to her bed, and they began to talk, a close friendship forming between the two.

 

Meanwhile, Ratchet was staring off into the distance, a puzzled look in his eyes. "What's bothering you?" Talwyn asked.

 

"When we were bringing everyone to safety... there was this woman. I've seen her before a few times among the other Lombaxes, and every time she was staring at me with those sky blue eyes of hers."

 

"Maybe she likes you." Talwyn said.

 

Ratchet shook his head. "It wasn't that kind of stare. It was... different. I could see disbelief, curiosity and pain in those eyes. It was as if she was seeing a ghost. It frightened me. Yet at the same time, I feel like I've seen those eyes before, but I can't figure out where and it's driving me crazy."

 

Talwyn shrugged. "That's just another one of life's mysteries, Ratchet. Maybe you'll find the answer someday, maybe you don't, but the point is: it doesn't matter."

 

She took his hand. "Hey. You just stay who you are. Come on, we've got work to do."

 

"Work to do?"

 

"We've managed to capture a hostile, Oort's going to interrogate him in an hour."

 

"Oort?"

 

"Yeah, he's here. Now that the enemy is gone, the general is here to speak with the prisoner in person. Now come on, let's get you back on your feet. Clank's making sure there's some food left for you, but if we wait too long it'll be cold."

 

Ratchet nodded and got up.

 

After Ratchet had taken a little rest, Talwyn and Clank brought him to the prisoner's holding cell, where they met up with General Oort. He was leaning against the building, staring off into the distance with a strange look in his eyes. "General, is everything okay?" Ratchet asked.

 

"See for yourself." Oort replied, nodding toward the door. Ratchet got in, only to come back out a second later. He sat down on the ground, breathing heavily. "Are you okay?" Talwyn asked.

 

"NO."

 

Talwyn was overcome with curiosity. Entering the holding cell, she saw something that made her heart skip a beat.

 

It was a Cragmite.

 

Coming back out, she sat down next to Ratchet and took his hand. "We'll get through this, okay?"

 

Ratchet nodded, staring at the ground. "I finally thought it'd be over, Tal. Why can't they just leave us alone? Why can't the universe just leave me alone for once?"

 

"I know how you feel." Oort said, shaking his head. "Operation Lima Charlie Hotel has been in the planning for such a long time now, and when it's finally set in motion we get mixed up in what seems to be the beginning a second great war. I had hoped that such horrible times would be a thing of the past."

 

Ratchet frowned. "No."

 

"Sorry?"

 

"No. I'm not afraid. Lombaxes don't run!"

 

"You're right." Oort said, getting up. "Let's go squash this oversized bug."

 

Oort walked in and sat down across from the chained Cragmite. "Now, I'm gonna give you precisely ten seconds to tell me everything you know or things for you are going to get reaaaaalllllyyy interesting." Oort said, as calm as he could be.

 

"He's not very good at this, huh?" Ratchet whispered to Talwyn. Talwyn shot him a warning glare.

 

"You're mistaken to think I'm gonna talk to Lombax scum." the Cragmite said.

 

Oort didn't even raise a brow as Tank came in and slammed an ax into the table in front of him. The Cragmite shot up in surprise. "Have a seat." Tank growled as he forced the Cragmite back down.

 

"Next time I bring down that ax, your face's gonna be underneath it unless you've answered our questions." Tank growled.

 

The Cragmite stared at Oort, who gave him a very patient smile.

 

Talwyn sat down next to Oort while Tank leaned against the wall. "First question, who ordered the attack on Fastoon?" Talwyn asked. The Cragmite spat in her face in return. Tank grabbed Ratchet's collar, otherwise Ratchet would've punched the Cragmite.

 

Talwyn gave him an icy stare. "Answer the question."

 

Suddenly, the Cragmite's armor began to beep. "What's that?" Talwyn asked.

 

"Uuh... N-nothing!"

 

Talwyn grinned. "Tank, since our guest is too 'occupied' to answer his call, why don't you answer the call for him?"

 

"Gladly, Captain." Tank said with a grin as he stepped forward. Before he could reach the Cragmite however, a hologram formed on the table. It was another face that nobody in the room wished to see again.

 

"Commander, what are you doing?!" Emperor Tachyon yelled. "You're supposed to be guarding Lupus!"

 

The Cragmite gave Tachyon a sheepish grin. Tachyon turned around. "Oh, I see." he said, before he suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.

 

"I knew it had to be you!" Ratchet growled, stepping forward.

 

"You fool! Who else than the emperor of the Cragmites could pull this off?! Did you really think that when you banished me to that dimension it'd be the end of it?! Well, here I am, and it's about time for the comeback of the greatest race of this universe!"

 

"Hate to break it to ya, you already got your ass handed to you not too long ago, and I'd gladly do it again."

 

"SILENCE! In time my forces will complete their goal, and there's nothing you can do to stop that!"

 

"Keep dreaming, Percival."

 

"EMPEROR! And don't get smart with me, Lombax! Let's see how well you'll do versus the glorious Cragmite army!"

 

"I already fought your 'Cragmite army' before! Please, bring me another! This boot here will gladly kick them back out of this reality."

 

"Silence, you miserable creature-" Grumbled Tachyon.

 

"Look who's talking, you can't even kill a fly with your bare hands!"

 

"Just go ahead and enjoy what little time you have left on your miserable planet before I'll send you all to hell!"

 

"This means war!" Oort said, growling.

 

Tachyon turned to him. "Ooh, so who might you be? Another one of those pathetic Lombax generals? Oh wait I remember you, Oort was your name. Did you forget what happened to the others? How one of them even caused the entire downfall of your species?"

 

"Less talk, more fight. What Cragmites you sent planetside all got their asses kicked because, as always, they're as smart as they are pretty, and the same counts for you, asshole!"

 

Tachyon was preparing for a massive outburst but Oort didn't give him the chance, grabbing his Omni-Wrench from his back and firing an electrical bolt at the Cragmite sitting across from him, giving him a nasty shock as well as frying the communications device, causing the hologram to flicker before fading out of existence entirely.

 

"Finally that ugly mug of his is gone." Tank said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Hey Watchman, when the time comes... can I kill him?"

 

"I wish, but I got a much better idea in mind."

 

Oort turned his attention to the Cragmite sitting across from him. "So, any information you’d be willing to share?"

 

"Never!"

 

Oort shrugged. "Your call. Captain Apogee, he's all yours, send him off to some hellhole until this whole situation is over so we can safely kick his ass back out of this reality."

 

Talwyn nodded and tapped her wrist. Immediately two bulky PDF soldiers came in and took the Cragmite away. "You're under arrest for attempted murder, terrorism and conspiracy. Everything you say can and will be used against you." one of them said.

 

"Soldiers, tell Captain Qwark that there's someone really eager to meet him." Talwyn said.

 

The Cragmite's eyes widened. "NO! MOTHER, NO! ANYHTING BUT THAT INCOMPETENT OAF! I'LL TALK, I'LL TALK!"

 

"That's more like it." Oort said. "Guards, give our unwanted guest a seat."

 

The PDF soldiers forced him back down in his seat.

 

"Now." Oort said, leaning forward. "Talk."

 

The Cragmite hesitated.

 

"Well," Talwyn said, "I have Qwark on speed-dial, so..."

 

"No, no, no! Okay, okay! So here's the deal with this 'Lupus'. He's an informant that the Emperor has great trust in. He's the one that informed him of the launch site of those missiles, and what would be the best time of attack. He knows pretty much everything about all your defenses. The Emperor holds all the cards and knows your cards too."

 

"Any details on his exact location?" Oort asked.

 

"He's on planet Opertus right now! It's a remote jungle planet!"

 

"Ratchet, come closer for a second." Oort said. Ratchet did as he was told. "Find out what sector that's in, please." Oort whispered into his ear. "We'll extract any extra information we can get."

 

Ratchet saluted and signaled for Clank to follow him.

 

After having left the room, Ratchet spoke up. "Clank, do you have any info on a planet called 'Opertus'?"

 

Clank closed his eyes and scanned his data banks. His eyes reopened a second later. "I am afraid that my data banks do not have any information about that planet. There is also no network that I can utilize available right now, therefore we will have to leave the planet."

 

One of Clank's eyes suddenly turned blue. "I know! I know!" Clank said with Aphelion's voice.

 

"Understood, Aphelion. I shall give you full control." Clank said with his normal voice before his other eye also turned blue. Aphelion shook her head. "I doubt I will ever get used to that. Either way, planet Opertus used to be an outpost utilized by the Praetorian Guard during the first Great War a lonnngggg time ago. It was a secret outpost however, only very few in the Guard even knew of its existence. Being the ship of the keeper of the Dimensionator, I was granted full access to the entire planetary database, and made backups of it just in case. Opertus does not lie in any known sector, which is exactly why it was so useful – it was habitable and also far from any common flight routes. It lies at the edge of the Helios galaxy, a satellite dwarf galaxy of Polaris. Approximate travel time: several thousands of years at light speed. With the latest in warp drives, travel time would be forty-two hours."

 

"Thanks, Aphelion." Ratchet said with a smile.

 

"I also have data available on the planet's weather and conditions, I am uploading the data to your armor while I let Clank regain control."

 

Two blue eyes closed while a red antenna blinked a few times, and two seconds later the eyes reopened, having their usual brilliant green color again.

 

The door behind Ratchet opened, and the two PDF soldiers came out, taking the Cragmite with them to a PDF drop ship waiting in the distance.

 

Ratchet went back in. "General, I have managed to obtain information regarding Opertus."

 

"That's wonderful!" Oort said. "Any hints of its location?"

 

"Better, I have precise coordinates and information regarding the planet's surface conditions."

 

"Awesome!" Oort said, clapping his hands together. "Well, gear up boy, I've got a mission for you."


	7. Chapter Seven: Gathering Intel

Of course, Ratchet wouldn't embark on the dangerous journey to Opertus alone, he would join Sierra-1, with Alpha-7 standing standby for backup if necessary. Soon enough thirty people, the fourteen soldiers among them, boarded a PDF drop ship with an intergalactic destination.

 

"Be safe out there, okay?" Talwyn asked, giving Ratchet a hug.

 

"I'll be careful, Tal. You go keep the galaxy safe for when we return."

 

"You got it."

 

The ship left five minutes later, after all necessary systems had been started up.

 

"Alright, everyone! This is your captain, Jerry Armstrong. I'll get you all to Opertus in a flash. Keep in mind that we have two days of travel time ahead of us, so be sure to utilize the ship's training facilities to keep yourself in mint condition for when we arrive." the captain said through the intercom.

 

"Hey Ratchet." Kepler said. "Do you have any info on this ships layout, so I can know where stuff is?"

 

"Sorry, Kep, I-"

 

Clank tapped Ratchet against his leg. "I have a map." Clank said with a smile.

 

"Ah, convenient!" Ratchet said. "How did you even get the map in the first place?"

 

"The ship's data network was kind enough to supply me with all info I need."

 

"Awesome!" Kepler said. They were currently all seated and strapped in inside a special room behind the cockpit for takeoff. "Once we get to warp, I'd love to explore this place with you two."

 

The ship however exposed its occupants to Zero-G, therefore after leaving the atmosphere everyone immediately took notice in some way. "Great, this again." Kate muttered, who was sitting to the left of Kepler.

 

"Zero-G bothering you again?" Kepler asked.

 

He noticed that Kate was looking a bit pale. "Need any help at all?" he asked.

 

"I feel like I'm about to throw up." she said, ears lowering. Kepler quickly handed her a paper bag. "Kate, breathe."

 

"You okay?" he asked a few seconds later. Kate hadn't moved, she just sat there with her eyes closed. "Yeah, I'm getting used to it now. What a discomforting feeling, zero-G, your body knows it's not supposed to be here."

 

Kepler nodded. "Stay strong, Kate. Just 42 hours."

 

Kate closed her eyes. "I'm just gonna sleep through most of it."

 

"Kate, there are sleeping quarters downstairs and... you're already asleep, huh?"

 

Indeed, Kate was already sleeping. As soon as they had engaged the warp drive and were going at several lightyears per minute, Kepler made his way to his sleeping quarters, took a spare blanket, made his way back to Kate and wrapped it around her. "Sweet dreams." he said, before finding Ratchet and Clank waiting for him outside. "Alright, let’s check this place out and wait…… How the hell are you standing on the ground?"

 

"Magneboots." Ratchet said. "See those blue-ish panels? They're electrically charged walkways, basically every panel is magnetic. My hoverboots double as magneboots and allow me to walk on this."

 

"Nifty, we should tell that to Elder Pin so he can add that stuff to the experimental PM-8 he's been working on. You’d think this high tech armor would, but Pin for whatever reason left those out, along with some other major things….."

 

"Well that sucks."

 

“It’s alright though. It takes more than a lack of gravity to catch me off-guard."

 

_15 hours later_

 

After some training in the on-board gym, which was designed for zero-G use, Ratchet and Kepler went to the sleeping quarter’s room they shared with Tank.

 

Kepler got up. "You guys go ahead, I'm gonna check up on Kate." Kepler said before leaving, flying off in zero-G.

 

"What's with him and Kate?" Ratchet asked Tank.

 

Tank laughed. "It a long story man! I’ll tell you more about it one day, but that’s a maybe. Say, can you tell me a little about your robot here?"

 

"Clank and I go way back, it's been over a decade. Clank's the best pal I ever had!"

 

"Like a brother?"

 

"Yeah. We watch each other's backs quite literally, huh?"

 

Tank chuckled. "Well, I’m ready for some sleep, man.”

 

"G’nite, Tank!"

 

"Good night, soldier." Tank said with a nod before closing his eyes. Kepler entered a few moments later, dimming the lights and strapping himself in to Ratchet's left.

 

"How's Kate?" Ratchet whispered.

 

"Feeling a lot better. She's already slept for quite a while though, so she'll likely be awake all night but that's okay, I mean, it feels surreal to all of us to be flying through another dimension, our minds are all racing at the moment."

 

Kepler smiled. "Wanna take a look outside?”

 

Ratchet grinned as he got out of his sleeping bag. "Hell yeah Kep, let’s go take a look."

 

After a few minutes of flying through the vessel, they reached the lower observation deck. The windows were closed.

 

"Alright, Kep, ready?"

 

"Bring it on." Kepler said with a smile.

 

Ratchet pressed a button, and the blast doors slid off the windows.

 

Kepler took a deep breath and smiled. "It never gets old does it..."

 

"I know, right? When this is over I should show you some of the sights in Polaris, Bogon and Solana. Trust me, I've seen some pretty amazing things. Krell Canyon for example."

 

"Looking forward to it." Kepler said with a smile.

 

The next morning everyone was feeling well-rested, even Kate, who eventually managed to sleep for a few more hours.

 

"Alright, everyone!" The pilot said through the intercom. "Let's just all give a grand applause to my brother, Buzz, who spent the night in the cockpit! On second thought, let's not, he's already falling asleep so a loud noise will only give him a headache. Either way, thank you Buzz. On a separate note, we are on schedule and will arrive at Opertus in approximately 18 hours. We will spend the night in orbit, tomorrow this time we will be descending to the planet's surface. Due to it being a forest planet, the ship may not be able to land, Buzz will try to find a landing spot tonight once we reach Opertus orbit. If the ship can't land, team Sierra-1 will descend using a drop pod, we'll come pick them up once the mission is over."

 

After a day in which they spent enjoying some amazing views of the two galaxies they were traveling between, everyone prepared for what was the last night on-board for Sierra-1.

 

When they all woke up the next morning, they could see Opertus far below through the observation deck.

 

The planet was almost entirely green, with small lakes of deep blue water and white mountain peaks. The atmosphere was deep blue with a hint of green, and the white clouds completed the picture.

 

"Damnnnnnn." Ratchet said.

 

"You're not kidding." Kepler said.

 

Then the captain spoke through the intercom. "Alright, everyone! Last night we arrived in Opertus orbit as planned. Thing is, there's no good landing site. We've just received info from home with the coordinates of the position of our target, but they're latitude and longitude codes with only three decimals, which leaves us with an area in which our target Is located. Sierra-1, you're up. Head to the drop pods on the lowermost deck, please."

 

Arriving at the lowermost deck, all Sierra-1 members were placed inside a capsule of some sorts. They were connected to the pod through a thick steel cable attached to their armor, and were told to hold on to the railing in front of them no matter what.

 

The door of the capsule closed, and they all felt an uneasy feeling in their stomach as they were suddenly shot out of the spacecraft.

 

As they entered Opertus' atmosphere, most of the pod decoupled save for the platform underneath them.

 

None of them had been expecting this, and everyone immediately became uneasy.

 

"Well things just got interesting, hold on folks!" Tank yelled at her over the sound of the wind as they entered the atmosphere, the platform below them being a heat shield.

 

"I have a really bad feeling about this!” Luna yelled back, looking around at the chaos.

 

She reluctantly braced for what they might be in for.

 

Then the atmospheric density increased faster and faster, up to the point where they were blasting through the atmosphere with four kilometers per second. The wind was howling and the platform underneath their feet was burning due to the immense friction. Their armor's heat warning sensors were blaring.

 

Kepler glanced over the edge. "We're landing in a lake, ETA one minute! Everyone, hold on!"

 

The increased pressure made the platform slow further and further up to the point where they were traveling at only three hundred meters per second.

 

Then, a parachute deployed, lowering their speed to only twelve meters per second.

 

As they splashed down however, the platform began to sink.

 

All were able to disconnect and quickly get off the platform, except for Luna, who couldn’t disconnect herself, and moments later she and the platform quickly disappeared beneath the water.

 

Tank immediately dove into the depths to rescue his comrade reaching the bottom of the lake, he found the platform. Luna was struggling to break free, clearly panicking. Tank grabbed the connection and broke it with his bare hands in anger, before grabbing Luna and throwing her at the surface. Regrouping at the surface, Luna retracted her visor and coughed a few times. "I was all out of air!" she said. Together the four made their way to the shore, where Kate, Rosetta, Centauri and Zwicky had already managed to pinpoint their location.

 

"Kep, we're 120 kilometers away from our target." Kate said. "We should get moving."

 

They began their long march to the target. After every hour of walking they took a ten minute break, drinking something before moving on.

 

Eventually, the sun began to set, and they set up a camp. Starting a fire, they warmed some food while Clank went into sleep mode to save energy.

 

They took turns sleeping, with two people awake at a time. At about two in the morning, Luna and Tank were awake. Tank couldn't resist looking at her from where he sat, on a boulder near their camp.

 

She was lying on the ground, visor retracted and hands under her head, and she was staring at the stars. "Richard." she eventually said, sitting up and looking at him. "I never really thanked you for what you did today."

 

He smiled. "Ah, that's okay. You would've done the same for me."

 

He could see the reflection of the campfire in her eyes. "I would have, indeed." she said with a nod.

 

She stayed silent for a while, rubbing her arm as she stared into the flames. "Richard?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Is there nothing you're afraid of?"

 

"Of course I'm afraid of something." he said, getting up and sitting down next to her. "In fact, it's why I joined the military. During Tachyon's first attack, the bastard killed both my parents. My grandparents raised me, although they died when I was twenty-one. Probably the loss of their daughter hurt them that much that it shortened their life like that. Yes, the grandparents that raised me were my mother's parents. My father's parents... they didn't make it. But the pain of losing your family, and ultimately being left alone... that's why I joined the military. I put on a brave face and stay strong so that others will never have to go through what I've been through, at least not on my watch. I may appear though on the outside, but... I care about all of you. You all are like a second family to me, and if I'd lose any of you... that'd really freakin' hurt."

 

Luna wrapped an arm around his torso and let her head rest on his shoulder. Neither of them said anything, staring into the fire. "Well." Luna said, getting up. "I'm gonna wake Centauri and Zwicky, it's their turn."

 

The following morning, Kate, Ratchet, Luna and Clank prepped their rations, Centauri, Tank and Zwicky scouted the area for anything they could use. Kepler was reporting to the ship in orbit, while Rosetta was reading a book on survival tricks.

 

"Kep, you won't believe where we are." Webb radioed. "The pilot has guided the ship to Opertus' moon, where we're currently landed on the side facing away from the planet. Local gravity is 0.3 G's, not much but it's something. We've deployed a small relay satellite for communications. How are things on your end?"

 

"We're all still breathing, Webb. Can you pinpoint our distance to the target?"

 

"Only twenty more kilometers, Kep. At normal walking speed, ETA is... two hundred minutes, which translates to..."

 

"Three hours and twenty minutes?"

 

"Exactly. Also, be careful down there. Oruvs knows what kind of stuff that Lupus figure has put up as defenses."

 

"Copy that, we'll rendezvous with your team soon."

 

"Roger. I'll report to Watchman. Webb out."

 

Three hours later, Kepler suddenly signaled everyone to stop.

 

"What is it, Kep?" Ratchet whispered.

 

"There's something fishy going on." Kepler said. Little did Ratchet know that Kepler's PM-7 was on red alert. The armor's system had detected that the ground up ahead was thin, too thin to be natural, thus probably a trap.

 

"I sense it too." Kate said with a grin, stepping forward.

 

"Your suit did, didn't it?" Ratchet said with a raised eyebrow. Clank couldn't suppress a giggle.

 

"Sharp." Kepler said. "Anyhow, the ground up ahead is trapped, and I don't want to know what's at the bottom of that pit. We're gonna have to take the high route."

 

Ratchet's ears lowered. "Something tells me I'm not gonna like that."

 

"Just take the trees. Centauri, grapples?"

 

"Gotcha, Kep." Connor Centauri said as he took the grappling hooks out of his backpack, and soon enough they were traversing through the treetops using the strong cables as a zipline.

 

Dropping down to the ground, they took position in the bushes. "Kep, heat sigs at one." Kate whispered.

 

"Two hostiles at eleven." Tank whispered. "One facing our way. My bet is that that base of theirs is around here."

 

"Up there!" Luna hissed, pointing at a walkway hidden in the canopy of a huge tree up ahead.

 

"Nifty." Rosetta said. "Gotta give 'em credit, they know how to hide stuff."

 

"Not good enough." Kepler said with a grin. "I've got a plan."

* * *

 

"Ready, Luna?" Zwicky whispered as they both held a lit torch ready.

 

"Ready. Awaiting Kep's signal."

 

A few birds flew off up ahead, startled.

 

"That's it, move!" Luna hissed. Pressing the torches against some dead trees.

 

Luna and Zwicky regrouped with Kate, who was hiding in a tree near their target. "Distraction created, any success?"

 

"See for yourself." Kate whispered, pointing at a large group of Cragmites leaving the compound through a zipline and heading off to the fire in the distance. "They've taken the bait."

 

"Now it's up to them." Luna whispered, searching for her comrades.

 

Soon enough, a hook came out of the green canopy, wrapping around a thick branch near one of the facility's walkways.

 

Kepler, Ratchet, Centauri, Tank and Rosetta soon appeared, climbing to the walkway and disappearing from view shortly after.

 

Kepler quickly took down an unsuspecting guard before signaling for the others to follow him. Pushing into the facility, they found out that the small base was a maze of hallways, and they definitely didn't want to walk through the wrong door.

 

But, they'd have to in order to find this 'Lupus'. Walking through a door however, they almost seemed to have entered another dimension. The room was a stark contrast with the bunker-like style of the hallways, appearing like a wealthy person's house, complete with a kitchen and bathroom area. There were signs of recent usage everywhere, but after searching the whole room, there was no trace of the informant himself.

 

"What are we gonna do now?" Ratchet hissed upon regrouping in the living room. "The informant must be somewhere around here, or they're gone."

 

"I don't get it." Rosetta whispered. "Do they know we're here?"

 

Tank shook his head. "Good chance they figured it out and relocated the informant. It's time to go loud. I'm going back out to help the girls plus Zwicky. You guys go find this rat. Except you, Centauri. I'm gonna need backup getting out of here."

 

Centauri nodded, and together the two ran out of the room, using the zipline to get down to the ground.

 

"What the hell are they doing?" Kate hissed, who was still hiding in the tree along with Zwicky. Luna had dropped down to the ground.

 

Kate realized what was going on when she heard a muffled grunt and choking sounds below. Looking down, she saw a Cragmite pin Luna against the tree.

 

Kate growled. "Oh no you don’t!" she mumbled as she suddenly dropped down on the Cragmite's head. "Get your hands off my friend!" she yelled as she grabbed her Praetorian OmniWrench.

 

Meanwhile, Tank and Centauri arrived, Centauri and Zwicky taking on a squad of Cragmites closing in while Tank hurried over to Luna. "You okay?"

 

Luna rubbed her sore throat, and nodded before she deployed her visor.

 

Meanwhile, Kepler, Ratchet, Clank and Rosetta were staying quiet in the excessively decorated room at Clank's request.

 

As the small robot had predicted, after a few minutes, they could hear a muffled voice. "Hello? Is it safe to come out?"

 

Deploying his visor, Kepler morphed his voice into something resembling a Cragmite voice. "Yes it is, weakling!"

 

"Okay, okay, geez! For people supposed to protect me you guys are awfully cranky, you know?!" they could hear coming from the bedroom. Soon enough a panel came out of the wall, revealing Lupus, who had been hiding in a panic room.

 

"So, this is Lupus?" Rosetta voice out loud.

 

Lupus' eyes became the size of dinner plates as he hammered on the button that would close the door.

 

"Aww, that's no way to greet guests." Kepler said, eerily calm as he grabbed his OmniWrench and broke the door.

 

Reaching to his ear, Kepler reported to the ship back in orbit. "Bravo-4, package secured."

 

"H-Hah! You fool! That signal has probably been traced just now!"

 

Kepler grinned. "I'd like to see them try, that communication was relayed through several beacons that we... 'left lying around' in a large radius."

 

"B-But still, you are all outnumbered! We've got tanks out there about to mow you guys down!" Lupus stammered, desperately trying to sound menacing.

 

"Oh, do yourself a favor and drop the act." Ratchet said. "There's no way a Terachnoid can look menacing, you guys are so skinny a gust of wind would be enough to knock you over. And what's with you? Weren't Terachnoids supposed to be smart? At least you share the inability to come up with cool names."

 

"S-Shut up! Your smile will fade when you see our vehicles appear, y-you... you rodent!"

 

Ratchet raised a brow. Kepler began to clap very slowly, while Rosetta burst out laughing.

 

"Yo Bravo, position?" Rosetta asked through the comms.

 

"You guys had vehicle trouble?" Cooper replied a few seconds later. Rosetta had raised the volume of the comms just enough for the Terachnoid to be able to hear it.

 

"Yeah. I suppose they have been eliminated?"

 

"Everyone dies, but we couldn't resist giving these people a hand. Coast's clear, Kep. We've found your point of entry. Hurry up and you can get this bastard into the ship faster, we're hanging near the walkway."

 

Kepler grinned behind his visor. "We're going for a little walk, Lupus."

 

"I-I only chose that codename because it sounded cool!"

 

Ratchet burst out laughing. "I know clowns with scarier names than that."

 

Reaching the walkway, they found the ship hovering outside, the boarding ramp deployed and ending two meters below the walkway.

 

Kate was standing on the edge of the ramp. "Kep, jump!"

 

"Ladies first." Kepler said to Lupus, pushing him forward.

 

"No!"

 

"That was no request." Rosetta said, kicking the Terachnoid's behind and sending him flying forward into the ship.

 

Lupus quickly got up and ran at Luna, grabbing a blaster off the wall and pressing it against her head.

 

"Now you all listen to me!"

 

Luna yawned. "You really shouldn't have done that. Those weapons have a bio-lock."

 

For a second, it stayed quiet, all members of Sierra-1 staring at Lupus with smug grins.

 

"Well, now." Kate said, walking up to the Terachnoid who was trying to escape, but all doors leading into the ship had been sealed in advance.

 

A needle shot out of her left wrist, hitting Lupus in one of his legs. "Bedtime, bad boy." She said as the sleeping drug began to do its thing.

 

Kepler burst out laughing. "Epic, pal! I suppose you people had this all planned?"

 

Kate gave him a fist bump. "Yep. Webb is reporting to Watchman as we speak. Let's get this waste of carbon into a holding cell and get the heck out of here. Sooner we get this whole zero-G nonsense behind us the better."

 

"Ya got it, Katie." Kepler said, unlocking the doors as the boarding ramp closed behind them. "Let’s have a little drink when we get back."

 

"Like the old days?"

 

"Like the old days."

 

Kepler gave Kate a pat on the shoulder as Tank dragged the unconscious Terachnoid out of there.

 

"Well, job well done." Ratchet said as Clank got off his back. "You saved the day, pal."

 

Clank giggled. "We would have found him anyway, I only saved us all a lot of time. Miss Eridani is correct, we should get this whole situation behind us as soon as possible.

 

"You got it, pal." Ratchet said as he and Clank headed to the upper deck to prepare for leaving the atmosphere.


	8. Chapter Eight: Preparations

The second the PDF dropship landed on Fastoon, it was swarmed by military forces. Lupus was taken out of the spacecraft and brought to interrogation. General Oort himself was present to welcome the brave soldiers home.

                        

He told every crewmember to go take the day off as thanks for their efforts, before moving to an old building that now served as a makeshift headquarters, where he met up with Talwyn. "Lupus is being interrogated as we speak. If they manage to pry loose the information regarding the location of Tachyon's fleet, my plan is to give 'em a sucker punch and take this little bugger down for good. But we need a coordinated attack for that, without a plan we will fail."

 

Talwyn nodded. "The PDF still has a fleet ready, but I think it'd be best to contact our allies regarding the current situation and see if we can get some support. Plus, they all owe Ratchet for his efforts."

 

Oort nodded. "It'd make things more complicated though."

 

"Your call."

 

"True. Bring him in and have him contact some of our military allies." Oort said.

 

"Where are you going?"

 

"I'm gonna take a walk if you don't mind. I need a clear head for this."

 

Talwyn nodded. She left the makeshift headquarters as well, and headed to the tent where Ratchet, Clank, Kepler, Rosetta and Tank slept. Sure enough, she found Ratchet sitting on his bed, talking to Clank. Tank was doing push-ups, Rosetta was playing a game on a handheld console, and Kepler was reading a book, while Clank was sitting on a nightstand.

 

Kepler saluted her. "Captain Apogee."

 

Talwyn saluted in return before turning to Ratchet. "Ratchet, can I talk to you for a sec?"

 

"Sure, Tal." Ratchet said, getting up and following her out of the tent. "What's up?"

 

Talwyn didn't respond and instead lead him to the makeshift headquarters. "We're planning on striking Tachyon's fleet as soon as we can. But we need more troops. We were wondering if you could reach out to your contacts in Solana and Bogon and ask for support."

 

Ratchet nodded. "Got it. Is there a communication terminal I can use?"

 

Talwyn pressed a key on a keyboard behind her, and a screen on the wall flashed to life, asking for a passcode.

 

Ratchet entered a passcode Sasha had entrusted him with a few years ago, and pressed 'enter'. Almost instantly the screen flashed to life, showing Sasha behind a desk. The retrofuturistic art style of the city visible through the window behind her revealed that she was in Metropolis, planet Kerwan. "What's the emergency?" she asked immediately.

 

"I'm certain you're aware of the return of the Lombax race." Ratchet began.

 

"Yes, I'm happy for you, but what's the problem? I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk right now."

 

"A few days ago Fastoon was attacked by a hostile fleet disguising their ships as Solanian. The civilians have been evacuated to safety."

 

"That can't be right, no Ranger ships have been there in years."

 

"I know. It was………. It was the Cragmites."

 

Sasha's eyes widened in fear. "Don't say it."

 

"I'm sorry, but he's back. The same guy that wrecked Metropolis a few years ago just to get to me is back. And we need Ranger support to take them down."

 

"I understand. I'll try to convince my father to send seven Ranger Firebird-class assault carriers your way. I'll contact you when I get results."

 

"Thanks, Sash."

 

"Anytime. Go get 'em, hotshot!" Sasha said with a laugh before terminating the connection.

 

Ratchet entered another passcode that would give him a direct link to the center of Bogon, and soon enough the head of the eccentric CEO of Megacorp filled the screen. "Ratchet! It’s been a while! How can I help you?" Fizzwidget asked immediately.

 

"Mr. Fizzwidget, I’m assuming you know about the Cragmites?"

 

Fizzwidget leaned back in his chair. "Yeah I know about em, they were an evil bunch weren’t they. Ruined the lives of so many innocents. But why are you asking me about this now?"

 

"They're returning, and the PDF alone can't stop it, even with the Lombax Praetorian Guard chances of victory are slim."

 

Fizzwidget laughed. "So after saving Bogon from fluffy blue destruction you're asking me to return the favor and save Polaris from slimy ugly destruction?"

 

"That is what I'm asking for indeed."

 

Fizzwidget nodded. "Megacorp still owes you for your efforts, the whole galaxy does in fact. I'll do my best to get a fleet ready. Megacorp doesn't fabricate huge spacecraft, but we've recently been developing a new jetfighter A.I. so the least I can promise is a fleet of autonomous spacecraft."

 

"If they're as durable as the Star Explorers, I don't think we'll have anything to worry about."

 

Fizzwidget laughed. "We've increased the quality of our products. No hard feelings but you sure blasted a lot of our defense mechanisms with relative ease, proving that Megacorp's security systems must be optimized. Since then our products have become much more durable. So yes, they're even stronger than the old Star Explorer line. It'd be a good beta-test too, now that I think about it. Since the downfall of Thugs-4-Less crime has dwindled, so there aren't many things to use them for."

 

"Thanks, Mr. Fizzwidget."

 

"Any day. I'll call you back when I get an update on the situation." Fizzwidget said before terminating the connection.

 

"That's all I can do." Ratchet said.

 

Talwyn smiled. "You know, you should be thankful for all those great friends you made. They'll end up saving the day."

 

"I am thankful for all of them. Clank in particular, without him, I'd still be stuck on Veldin. Correction, I'd be dead, as Drek planned on destroying the planet.

 

"You never told me the full story about him again if I remember correctly."

 

"It’s a long story Tal."

 

"You know, you should go into more detail tell me about all the adventures you've been through one day, I’m surprised we haven’t talked about it as much."

 

"Yeah, I know, and I will. Just not now."

 

"I understand. Looks like our contact in Solana is reaching out." Talwyn said, looking at the blinking icon on-screen.

 

Establishing the connection, Sasha appeared on-screen again. "Ratchet, I'd prepared quite the argumentation, but I didn't need it after all. My father is well-aware of the various times you've saved the galaxy, so according to him it's only normal that we help you out as well. There's a Ranger fleet getting prepped for flight as we speak, they should be where you are in a day. New warp drive, in case you were wondering."

 

"Thanks, Sasha."

 

"Anytime. Go get 'em, hotshot. Shoot one for me too. Sasha out." she said with a salute.

 

"I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to your 'hotshot' nickname." Talwyn said.

 

"Well you know she’s my ex, Tal”

 

Talwyn chuckled.

 

"Yeah, yeah, you just keep laughing." Ratchet said as he rolled his eyes.

 

 Looks like our contact in Bogon has produced results as well."

 

Sure enough, Fizzwidget appeared on-screen. "Ratchet, I've just returned from an emergency meeting with the board members, and they all agree we should help you out. Especially since you're the reason our company still lives. There's an army of drones grouping in Yeedil orbit as we speak, once they have been joined by two carriers full of Megacorp Security Enforcer MK12 robots they'll enter warp. They'll be there in about thirty hours. There's only one thing I must ask in return."

 

"What is it?"

 

"Make sure you don't give them any ideas of giving Bogon a visit. At least not anytime soon, we've ordered over half of the defense robots guarding the Megacorp HQ to join this mission so we're defenseless right now. Since it's a day travel time even with the best warp drives we'll still be alright, but we'd rather not have an army on our roof. Also, have you heard any news regarding our missing geneticist? I'm certain you remember her."

 

"Angela, yes. No, last thing I've heard was that she was seen in the Cerullean sector in Polaris galaxy."

 

"Hmm. I'm concerned regarding the safety of my best geneticist, not to mention the one that helped save the whole company. If you have any news regarding her whereabouts, let me know."

 

"You got it."

 

"Alright then. Be careful out there, okay? Fizzwidget, out."

 

After Fizzwidget had terminated the connection, Talwyn went to inform Oort while Ratchet went back to his tent.

 

"Alright, I'm back." he said, laying down on his bed.

 

"What did Miss Apogee need you for?" Clank asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

 

"Oh, she asked me if I could contact Sasha and Fizzwidget if they could help us out."

 

"The greater our army, the harder we'll hit." Kepler said.

 

Tank burst out laughing. "I'll make sure I hit like a truck."

 

"You go ahead and do that." Kepler replied. "No mercy for them."

 

"I see I'm not the only one who's tired of these suckers?"

 

"Nope. It's just so sour, millions of people think they're going home at last only for history to repeat itself. I wouldn't be surprised if this event left many people traumatized."

 

"Let's go bring 'em justice then." Tank said, raising his large hand.

 

"When the time comes, Tank." Kepler replied, giving his comrade a high five.

 

"Hey, where did Rosetta go?" Ratchet wondered out loud. "He was here mere minutes ago."

 

"Oh, he went to check up on a friend of his. You weren't conscious when this happened, but just after the attack on Fastoon a few days ago, we and Bravo-4 teamed up to sweep the Craggy's that had claimed a surface-to-space missile launch site. During the mission a member of Alpha-7 was injured but Rosetta saved their skin and has been bonding with him ever since."

 

"Oh, I remember that mission. The face of that Cragmite when he realized I'd bent the barrel of his weapon." Tank said.

 

"You did what?"

 

Tank explained what had happened, and Ratchet burst out laughing.

 

Meanwhile Rosetta entered the medical tent. As he had expected, Andromeda was talking to the medic. She'd have to report daily so the medic could keep an eye on her condition.

 

Once she was done, she walked out of the medical tent, where she saw Rosetta waiting. "Hey." she said.

 

"Hey. So how are you doing?"

 

"The doc says I'm okay. Ready for duty."

 

"What about your armor?"

 

"I've contacted someone in the LD, who contacted Pin about this. Pin's too busy with getting the PM-8 ready to build another PM-7, but he agreed to give me an experimental PM-8."

 

"So that means you get to try out one of the PM-cores."

 

"Yep."

 

"Did you make a decision already?"

 

"Well, I originally thought Anne Cluster's upgrade, the Shadowbender Core, was pretty awesome, but when I got a list of the cores Pin has created already, I chose the Nano Core."

 

"The what?"

 

"Increased regeneration and healing capabilities."

 

"That sounds pretty awesome."

 

"I know, right? It also means that I can patch you up next time you get yourself into trouble."

 

"Well, you're welcome."

 

She laughed and poked his arm. "In all seriousness, thanks."

 

"Eh, no prob. Did you receive any info regarding the next mission?"

 

"Yeah, Oort's probably informing the rest of Sierra-1 as we speak. The plan is to wait a day for the backup to arrive - Solana and Bogon sent support troops – then attack the location of Tachyon's fleet."

 

"Do we know that location?"

 

"Yeah, Lupus spilled the beans after some... 'persistence' on our side."

 

Andromeda told him what Oort had done. He had left Lupus waiting in the interrogation room for hours before suddenly entering. He had sat down across from Lupus, placing a bonesaw with fake blood on it on the table. "Now, I'm getting tired of all these interrogations." he had said. "Very tired. So, here's what I'm gonna do. You're gonna make this easy for both of us and tell me everything I want to know. Every time you lie or fail to respond, I'll grow more and more eager to perform a little 'experiment'."

 

"You know," he had continued, lowering his voice and leading forward slightly, "I've always wondered, how many legs can one remove before a Terachnoid loses the ability to walk."

 

Lupus had been so intimidated that he had pretty much told everything, including that, unsurprisingly, the location of Tachyon's fleet was Reepor.

 

"So, we're gonna pay a little visit in a few days?"

 

"Yep. Time for some justice."

 

_Aboard Tachyon's flagship_

 

"Where are we headed exactly?"

 

"To the lowermost cell blocks. You're lucky the emperor made you join."

 

"What are we gonna do exactly?"

 

"You're askin' a lot of questions, Xan. You know that, right?"

 

"Yeah, yeah, sorry man."

 

"Hmpf. We're here to... 'take care of the emperor's latest trophies'." the large Cragmite responded as the two joined a group of two other Cragmites heading for the lowermost cells.

 

"How's life, Ytor?" one of them asked to the large Cragmite.

 

"Meh, any second not shooting those disgusting furred freaks is a wasted second."

 

"Well, we're about to give two a fun time, at least that counts, eh?"

 

"Hmpf. I say we let new blood here observe the first rounds."

 

"Like any of us wanna miss the fun."

 

"You got it, Zor."

 

Reaching the lowermost cell blocks, the four Cragmites stepped out of the elevator. Heading to the back, to the maximum-security cells, they motioned for the guards to go take a walk as they entered the cell.

 

There was absolutely no light inside, and Xander had trouble seeing. When Ytor turned on his flashlight however, he wished he had closed his eyes.

 

Illuminated by Ytor's flashlight, Xander saw the prisoners. Two Lombaxes.

 

A mother and daughter by the looks of it. Their condition terrified him, or rather, the absence of muscle mass. Especially the child was in a terrible condition.

 

Ytor shined his flashlight directly into their eyes, making them turn their heads and growl in pain. "Don't you dare even look at us, vermin." he spat.

 

One of the two other Cragmites that Ytor had called Zor earlier, motioned for Xander to go stand in the corner before turning on the lights. As Zor and Ytor walked over to the two prisoners chained to the wall, Xander and the fourth Cragmite leaned against the wall opposite of the two Lombax prisoners. "Always fun to mess with their eyes first." the Cragmite mumbled to Xander. "Name's Marzin by the way."

 

"Xander." Xander replied.

 

"This is when the fun starts. Watch." Marzin said.

 

Xander watched as Zor left the room only to return with a bucket of water. Xander looked at the adult Lombax and saw fear in her eyes. Marcus saw the same, but while Marcus chuckled, knowing what would come next, Xander was concerned.

 

The fear in the woman's eyes increased tenfold when Zor placed the bucket in front of her daughter. "No! Leave her alone, you-"

 

Ytor kicked her in the gut, making her growl in pain. "We didn't ask you anything, so shut up."

 

There was a spark of determination in the woman's eyes. "So you're gonna torture the kid, huh? Not man enough to do this to someone who can defend themselves?" She yelled, earning a punch in the gut.

 

"Mommy, don't!" the child pleaded. "I don't want them to hurt you!"

 

"I dare you." the woman growled, glaring at Zor.

 

"Very well then, hehehehe." Zor said, moving the bucket in front of the woman. Nodding to Ytor, Ytor pressed a button on the wall and the chains attached to the woman's arms clicked open, making her fall on the ground.

 

Ytor grabbed her ears and pulled her head up while Zor moved the bucket under her head, before forcing her head into the water.

 

Xander went pale. He watched as the woman struggled and clawed at everything in a primal-like panic, before her body went limp.

 

"Mommy!" the child cried.

 

Immediately the woman's head was pulled out of the water by her hair, and Ytor kicked her in the gut with enough force for her to cough up the water.

 

Immediately the poor woman began to gasp for air.

 

It was then that Xander finally noticed that Marcus had been poking his left arm. "Xan, you look pale, you okay?"

 

"Y-yeah, just... erm, this is so cool!"

 

Marcus laughed. "We're just getting started."

 

Ytor locked the door before pressing a button on the wall. Immediately mother and child were set free.

 

Zor grabbed a bucket with what looked like banana peels and other leftovers and placed it in the middle of the room. "Now, we've become a bit bored. I think you two know what to do?"

 

"We're gonna make them fight for food." Marcus whispered to Xander. "Watch."

 

Immediately the woman turned to her child. "Go eat, dear."

 

"But I don't want to-"

 

"Do it. You'll need it."

 

"So we have a winner then. That was fast." Zor said with a bored voice. "And you all know the penalty for showing mercy to your opponent."

 

Xander watched as they grabbed the woman's wrists and punched her in the gut until she threw up the little that was in her stomach into the bucket of water. Next, they grabbed the bucket full of water and puke and threw it over her, before Zor pulled out a Taser and pressed it against her skin.

 

They'd keep torturing the poor Lombaxes for hours until finally they stepped away from the two battered and bruised Lombaxes.

 

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Ytor said. The two Lombaxes stayed silent. "Well, looks like our time is up. See ya tomorrow." Ytor said with an evil grin.

 

"Wait." Xander said.

 

"What?" Zor said.

 

Faking the best evil grin he could manage, Xander walked closer. "Give me some alone time, would ya?"

 

"Huh?"

 

"There are some things I've heard about Lombaxes that I'm itching to try out. I'll meet up with you guys later."

 

Zor burst out laughing. "You're a true Cragmite, one to be proud of! But you gotta be sure to clean up afterwards."

 

"Deal."

 

And with that, Ytor, Marcus and Zor left, the door slamming shut behind them.

 

Xander stared at the two Lombaxes chained to the wall in front of him. The woman was glaring daggers at him while the child was only breathing. It had ran out of tears to cry hours ago.

 

Xander slowly moved closer to the kid. "You dare touch my child you evil-"

 

"Save your energy." Xander cut her off with a soft tone in his voice, making her stop mid-sentence in confusion. "You already have so little."

 

He knelt down in front of the child and placed a finger underneath her chin, slowly lifting the girl's small head.

 

The soulless and tired expression reflected in her eyes chilled him to the core. It was as if she was expecting the worst torture imaginable, and had already prepared herself. She had given up hope.

 

Xander took a few deep breaths to prevent himself from throwing up. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a sandwich stored in plastic that he had received as rations.

 

"You sadistic bastard, eating your lunch in front of a starved child!" the mother yelled.

 

Xander shot her a pointed look before removing the plastic.

 

"Here." he whispered, offering it to the child.

 

The child stared at it, but didn't move.

 

"Are you afraid that it's poisoned?" Xander asked, to which the child nodded. In response, Xander tore off a piece of bread and ate it up. "See?"

 

The child stared at the sandwich for a few more seconds before taking a bite. And another. Since her arms were chained, Xander held it in front of her mouth. The child's mother watched it happen in shock and disbelief.

 

"B-b-but... why?"

 

Xander pressed his left index finger against her lips. "If they catch me doing this they'll skin me alive." he hissed. "If anyone asks, come up with the worst possible scenarios, got it, you two?"

 

The mother and child nodded.

 

Xander sat down. "I'm sorry." he whispered. "I... what they did, and..."

 

"You're different."

 

"I... I certainly hope so. I cannot stand for what my race has done."

 

"They destroy, you protect. That makes you better than all of them." she whispered. "Thank you. Thank you for having a soul."

 

Xander nodded and took another plastic-wrapped sandwich out of his pocket. "This was supposed to be my lunch, but by the looks of things, you need it more than I do." he whispered as he removed the plastic foil and offered the sandwich to the mother, which she gladly accepted.

 

"Now, there is one thing we must agree to." he whispered. "I cannot stop them from haunting you every day, but I can make it better afterwards. I'm gonna request some more 'alone time' tomorrow, but whatever happens, do not let me finish. Instead, start screaming as if me getting that 'alone time' would mean the end of the world to you two, and they'll accept."

 

Xander left and returned with a clean bucket full of tap water. The mother's eyes widened, but Xander gave her a reassuring glare. Holding it up to their mouths, he allowed both Lombaxes to drink some water.

 

Double-checking that the door was locked, he walked up to the mother and tore the right sleeve of her shirt off.

 

"What the hell?!"

 

"If anyone asked, I tortured you so badly that you ripped off your sleeve in desperation." Xander replied, letting the cloth absorb some water before pressing it against the burn marks on the woman's left arm.

 

She let out a growl of pain, though she soon calmed. Treating the injuries on both Lombaxes to some extent, Xander made sure the marks would still be visible for a while, but that the wounds wouldn't get infected and the pain would be gone.

 

When he left and locked the door behind him, he was happy. Before he had left he had seen something in their eyes. Thankfulness, life, but most importantly, hope.

 


	9. Chapter Nine: SNAFU

About a day later, a huge fleet began to form over Fastoon. Thirty PDF 'avenger' strike-class motherships, two hundred PDF high-performance 'ravager' starfighters, one hundred PDF 'skytitan' drop ships, and three PDF 'stealth wasp' orbital scanner drones.

 

From Solana came a fleet of Galactic Ranger aircrafts led by a familiar sight. "Sasha sent the freakin' Phoenix?!" Ratchet cried out when he saw the ship enter orbit from aboard a PDF mothership. Sure enough, the Starship Phoenix and six sister ships, the starships Thunderbird, Zeus, Helios, Athena, Hercules and Perseus followed it in formation, a fleet of four hundred Galactic Ranger 'starjumper' superiority fighters and one hundred Ranger drop ships.

 

Bogon had also sent support in the form of four hundred Megacorp Fighter Drones, fifty Megacorp Sentry Carriers, and seven Megacorp 'Armageddon' orbital warships.

 

Soon enough, the fleet was complete and set a course for Reepor, hoping to settle this once and for all.

 

During the two hour journey, many of the soldiers were busy hanging around in the ship’s lounge area.

 

But Ratchet wasn’t there. He was on one of the upper decks of the PDF mothership. He was staring at the stars zipping by, and didn't speak a word.

 

"There you are."

 

Turning his head, Ratchet saw Clank walking up to him. "Hey, pal." Ratchet said, giving a weak smile.

 

"What is bothering you, Ratchet?"

 

"Nothing."

 

"Do not lie to me. You are not the type of person that would prefer stargazing over a little socialization."

 

"Heh, got me there, pal." Ratchet said with a chuckle.

 

Clank sat down next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

 

Ratchet sighed. "I dunno."

 

They stayed silent for a while.

 

"It's just that... I can't imagine what these poor people must be going through. Finally arriving home only for their biggest mental scar to repeat itself."

 

"Tachyon will be brought to justice for his actions, and you know that."

 

"Yeah, but... what if Tachyon is just the first of many?"

 

"Then those will be defeated as well."

 

"You don't get it. What if Tachyon was right? What if the Lombaxes truly will never be safe? What if we all remain hunted like animals?"

 

Clank opened his mouth, then closed it again. After a few seconds, he spoke up. "Ratchet, you are known in several galaxies. I doubt anyone would let harm come to your race. I am certain that, when given enough time, things will return to normal. Once the Lombax Praetorian Guard and the full strength of the Lombax military have properly set up in this reality, they will be well-protected. There is nothing to worry about."

 

Ratchet suddenly hugged Clank. "Thanks, little buddy." Ratchet mumbled. "I may not show it that often, but I really appreciate your wisdom. Thank you for always being there when I need you."

 

"Anytime." Clank responded.

 

When they arrived, it was chaos. Everyone had quickly taken their position as they approached the toxic green planet known as Reepor at a rapid pace.

 

Ratchet walked into the observation deck to get a good look however. He assumed the observation deck to be empty, but was proven incorrect when he saw general Oort standing in front of the window, arms crossed behind his back and his figure radiating authority.

 

(General Oort, done by: <http://babywarrior5.deviantart.com/>)

 

He glanced over his shoulder at the noise. "Ah, Ratchet. Come on in."

 

Ratchet walked over to the general and stopped next to him, staring at the green dot in the distance.

 

"Tell me, what was Reepor like?" Oort asked.

 

"Reepor?"

 

"Miss Apogee told me of your previous encounters with Tachyon, and how you and Clank witnessed the first return of the Cragmites first-hand. I wonder, what state was their planet in?"

 

"More well-preserved than Fastoon, but taken over by wildlife as well."

 

Oort nodded. "Probably because there were no major battles on the surface of Reepor while the same cannot be said for Fastoon, unfortunately."

 

Ratchet acknowledged.

 

"For what it's worth, I have a lot of respect for you." Oort said with a smile. "Normally soldiers are supposed to refer to me as their superior but I'd rather prefer if you would refer to me as an equal or inferior. Because no matter what anyone will say, you succeeded in giving Tachyon and his whole army a run for their money, and I know very few Lombaxes capable of pulling off a stunt like that. One of them being the old keeper of the dimensionator."

 

"My father."

 

Oort chuckled. "Your father was a great guy to be around. In fact he's the reason I'm still breathing, if he hadn't deflected that plasmabullet the night Tachyon attacked I'm not sure if I would have arrived in one piece. I hope I can repay my debt to him one day, so if there's anything I can do for you, just let me know. I owe your family one."

 

"What was my father like?"

 

Oort shook his head. "He looked a lot like you, except he had a few stripes on his cheeks while you don't. The jawline also differs slightly but overall you look just like him, in behavior as well."

 

Oort sighed. "Kaden was energetic, and mischievous at times, but serious and determined when he needed to be. You must know that one will not simply be entrusted with the safekeeping of something like the dimensionator, your father swore several oaths and did many great things to be offered the title. But I fear it's what got him killed. When invading Fastoon, one of the things Tachyon was looking for was the dimensionator."

 

Oort shook his head. "But, I'm rambling. We should get to work."

 

"You know, I'm actually quite surprised to see you've joined the mission as well." Ratchet said.

 

"You kidding me, boy? When we're gonna take this salty little bugger down I want to be there, if only so I can personally kick his behind. This boot's got his name on it."

 

They both laughed. Oort sighed. "I just hope this goes well. Miss Apogee wanted that a part of the fleet stayed behind to stand ready for eventual counterattacks but I convinced her to send the whole fleet to Reepor. We've got a big chance of winning this, and I want this chance to be as big as possible."

 

Ratchet looked outside. "Say... we're quite close to Reepor already, shouldn't they have done at least something by now?"

 

"Could be that he's waiting, but whatever he pulls, we're ready for it. Bring it on, Cragmites."

 

But nothing happened. "This is starting to unnerve me." Ratchet said.

 

"Something's not right." Oort said, narrowing his eyes as he leaned forward slightly. That's when the ship suddenly turned around. They both yelped as they were caught off-guard and fell. "What the?!" Oort yelled as he got up and ran to the control room, Ratchet following him.

 

"What the hell is going on?!" Oort yelled as he stormed into the control room. Talwyn got up, walked over to him, and got right up in his face. "You idiot!" she hissed. "I told you this was a setup!"

 

"Tal, what happened?" Ratchet asked.

 

"Watch." Talwyn said, turning on a monitor to her left. It began to show a news broadcast.

 

"Good evening, my name is Kip Darling. As everyone on Igliak and in every neighboring sector probably knows by now, the capital city of Polaris is currently being bombarded by an armada of warships of unknown origin. The city's major defense points seem to be the targets of the attacks while groups of soldiers that appear to be, and you're hearing this correctly, Cragmites are flooding the city, turning everything upside down. The government strictly advises everyone to seek refuge indoors."

 

Talwyn turned off the monitor. "We just royally messed up! We're en route to Igliak as we speak. And let me make this very clear, if anyone dies down there, their blood is on your hands!" she said to Oort before storming out of the control room.

 

Oort sat down on a bench, defeated. Ratchet let him be and decided to go after Talwyn. He found her after searching a few hallways. She was leaning against the wall, face buried in her arms.

 

"Tal?" Ratchet asked as he walked closer. Talwyn raised her head a little and eyed him. She calmed down a little immediately. "Hey." she whispered.

 

"Tal, are you okay?"

 

Talwyn sighed, sitting down on the ground. "What kind of captain am I, Ratchet? What just happened to Meridian City, I shouldn't have let that happen. I shouldn't have listened to Oort, I should have left some defenses just in case... something like this happened."

 

Ratchet wrapped an arm around her. "We always try our best to protect others, Tal. But that doesn't mean that we always succeed in what we try to do. Sometimes things just happen, whether they are beyond your control or not. Point is, don't blame yourself for what happened. You didn't fire those missiles."

 

"But I could've stopped them."

 

"Some things just happen, Talwyn. The trick is to get back up and into the fight that is life."

 

"Thanks." she said, a glistering of determination in her eyes. "And you're right. Let’s go liberate Meridian City."

 

Thirty minutes later the whole fleet was entering the skies of Igliak, the shimmering buildings of the vast metropolis known as Meridian City visible far below. The sheer amount of fire and unnerving lack of traffic was also quite an eyecatcher at the moment though. Upon slowing down from warp speeds the Cragmite fleet bombarding the planet from orbit was clearly present, some of the ships large enough to dwarf whole cities. Beams of destruction the size of an average asteroid sweeped across the planet, leaving complete and utter destruction in their wake.

 

The Megacorp drones immediately began to pursue and engage the Cragmite drop ships swarming through the city while the PDF got to work on assisting the civilians. The Ranger motherships stayed in orbit and engaged the Cragmite warships, the smaller Cragmite vessels were a target for the on-board weaponry of the mothership fleet while the three large ships were quickly assaulted by a swarm of Ranger drop ships invading the fleet.

 

The Praetorians were tasked with getting the ground-to-orbit defenses back online and getting rid of any Cragmite forces present at these locations.

 

Alpha-7 was instructed with reclaiming ownership of the orbital cannon, Bravo-4 was tasked with regaining control of the PDF Headquarters in the center of the city, while Sierra-1's mission was to help out a group of trapped soldiers a few blocks from the HQ.

 

"Good luck, Kep. Webb." Taylor said they got ready to board the drop ships, each team had been assigned a different drop ship. After they had all been sent planetside the PDF carriers would move to assist the Solanian troops in Igliak orbit.

 

"Same to you, Taylor." Webb said with a salute before following her team into the PDF drop ship.

 

"Let's kick some ass, Lawnmower!" Kepler yelled as the doors of the drop ship he was in began to close.

 

Once the doors were all closed and all teams were on their way, Kepler began the briefing. "Alright, team, listen up. When the PDF HQ was invaded the PDF soldiers on site fled the building, protecting the non-fighters such as scientists and PR guys. Problem is, those Cragmites saw them as easy prey and dropped a firebomb on their heads. They managed to seek refuge in abandoned air traffic tunnels, but the tunnel collapsed on one end and is burning on the other end. Due to structural safety, the plan is to land near the HQ along with Taylor's team, but while they reclaim the HQ, our job is to push through the fire and get those people out. They'll be sent to safety using our drop ship."

 

Tank raised his hand. "And after that?"

 

"We'll receive further instructions then. Let's get to work, ladies and gentlemen." Kepler replied, grabbing his gun in both hands and getting ready. Soon enough the doors opened. They were still flying high over Igliak, but not too high. It was a short drop compared to the drop from space they had endured over Opertus.

 

At Kepler's signal, they all jumped. Their armor had been supercharged in advance so the microthrusters embedded in the armor could slow them down sufficiently, the built-in hoverboot-systems activating as soon as they had jumped and lowering the squad to the ground.

 

Landing in a destroyed square, Kepler immediately ran off to their objective, the rest of the team in pursuit.

 

"Now what?" Kate asked when they reached the airway tunnel that had been blocked off by metal debris from a nearby ruined skyscraper. Smoke was filtering through.

 

Tank attempted to throw a punch at the metal. His fist left a dent, but not much aside from that. "This is gonna take a while." he said, cracking his knuckles. "Luna, little help here?"

 

"Not necessary." Ratchet said, stepping forward. "Hey Clank? Have you been upgrading yourself in secret again?"

 

Clank dropped down from Ratchet's back with a knowing grin. "What's he gonna do?" Tank asked. "Turn into an oversized behemoth of a machine and punch that stuff away?"

 

"If you prefer." Clank said, barely being able to avoid bursting out laughing at the thought of Tank's face.

 

Instead, Clank's right hand turned into the old Geo-Laser. "He got that upgrade during our first encounter with Tachyon." Ratchet explained while Clank began to cut a way through. "It's a long story about how he got it, but given enough time Clank can even drill through sheets of Titanium, Raritanium and even Trillium."

 

"I got it." Clank said as he finished drilling a hole through the rubble. Behind it was a blazing inferno.

 

"How can that even burn?" Kepler wondered. "There's barely enough oxygen for such a combustion."

 

"I agree, this is because of Igliak's heavily present purification systems."

 

"The what?"

 

"Igliak has no native species. When it was first discovered, Igliak was a barren world with an atmosphere consisting primarily of Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, and Argon. Do you see those trees everywhere? Those are barely enough to support the planet's immense oxygen need, therefore most buildings have air purification systems, filtering out exhaust gases and converting them into Oxygen and various other useful products. For example, Carbon Dioxide and water vapor becomes Oxygen and hydrocarbons."

 

"Fascinating." Kate said. "But right now we need to find a way of shutting it down."

 

"You cannot." Clank said. "The system is protected from any kind of interference."

 

"Then we'll do this the old-fashioned way." Tank said before storming into the fire. "Richard!" Luna yelled, but Tank was gone.

 

"Relax!" Tank's voice came from the other side of the fire. "I'm okay! I've found the PDF employees and I have a plan. Luna, throw me some of that debris, would you?"

 

Trusting her comrade, Luna picked up some large pieces of scrap metal and threw them through the fire. "Thanks!" Tank yelled as he began to shove the metal into the fire, creating a bridge through the flames. Seeing what his plan was, Luna got to work on the other side. "Alright, everyone, move!" Tank yelled, and immediately all PDF employees rushed across. The bridge soon became too hot however, and Tank was left trapped with the last PDF employee.

 

"We're dead meat!" the scientist whined. "I chose science as my career because I thought I would be safe... who'll take care of my family now?!"

 

"What's your name?" Tank asked.

 

"Alexander." the scientist replied.

 

"Alexander, shut your cakehole and get ready to move. You're not dying today, and neither am I." Tank yelled, picking up the employee. "Luna! Catch!"

 

He threw the employee as high as he could, over the flames. Luna immediately saw what was going on, but was too far away to catch him. Luckily Ratchet quickly got into action, activating his hoverboots and ramming into the employee to break the vertical velocity. The impact left them rolling across the ground, battered and bruised but still breathing. Tank came storming back through the fire, his thick armor protecting him. "How's that for a Sunday workout?" he said as he retracted his visor. His armor did a good job at protecting him but it surely got hot in there.

 

Kepler stared at his forehead. "What's the prob?" Tank asked.

 

Kepler suddenly charged forward and pressed Tank against the ground, and just in time too.  “We have snipers on our hands."

 

"Got them." a voice said through the comms, and Kepler saw a figure fall from a building on the far side of the plaza.

 

"Thanks, Hawk." Kepler radioed back. "Taylor, status?"

 

"It's pure insanity here, Kep!" Taylor radioed back immediately. "We're making progress but resistance is heavy. Backup appreciated. I need everyone here or we'll get stabbed in the back for sure by enemy forces."

 

"Send 'em ahead, we got your back, Taylor. Team, let's storm the PDF HQ." Kepler said back, making sure his squad mates heard it.

 

As one they activated their hoverboots and charged at the PDF headquarters. Above them, Kepler saw a Cragmite get smashed through a window and out of the building. He saw a female Praetorian jump down, activating a wrist-mounted grapple to convert the vertical velocity into horizontal velocity, and swinging back into the building at a lower level.

 

Entering the building, the first thing they noticed was the amount of rubble. They managed to use the ceiling that had fallen down, to climb up a level, before using the destroyed elevators to climb up to Taylor's position.

 

"Keep an eye out, team." Kepler radioed to the other members of Sierra-1 as he kept a close eye on the elevators above them. "I don't like these things one bit. Be ready to get out of here as soon as one of them as much as starts to wobble."

 

Sure enough, they heard a terrifyingly loud screech come from one of the elevators. "Shit! Move, move!"

 

Sure enough, they got out of there immediately. Or at least, some of them did. Kate and Zwicky didn't have enough time to get out with no exit next to them. Fortunately, there were two elevators sharing one elevator shaft, therefore they jumped off the wall to avoid the elevator coming down.

 

"Damn!" Kate said. "That was too close!"

 

Finally they reached Taylor's team. Or rather, the two members of it. "Taylor, any plans?" Kepler asked.

 

"These are just offices, Kep." Taylor said. "Hawk managed to acquire the schematics of this place, the labs are located in the basement while the control room is a few floors above us. I've sent Andromeda and Parallax down there to secure the lab, but they're gonna need backup more than we do. Shooting a bunch of Craggy's is one thing, but doing it in a place that has dangerous chemicals everywhere is a whole different story."

 

"Got it. Rosetta, Centauri, go help with securing the labs. Ratchet, I'd like to ask you to help out there too."

 

Ratchet hummed in thought. "I know these floors up here better than the lab downstairs because I've often visited Talwyn. I think I'm better off up here."

 

Kepler nodded. "Good point. Kate, would you go with them then?"

 

Kate nodded. "Consider it done."

 

Because one of the elevators had fallen down, the three Praetorians simply jumped at the elevator cable and slid down to the bottom of the shaft, where they found what was left of the elevator.

 

Kate motioned for Rosetta and Centauri to stay quiet as they took cover behind a desk.

 

They sneaked through the eerily quiet lab, looking for the two members of Bravo-4 that had been sent down to investigate.

 

They found the two soldiers in front of a sealed bulkhead. "Oh, no!" Kate whispered.

 

They found Private Parallax on the ground, motionless. Andromeda was sitting on her knees next to the downed soldier, giving her body a controlled shock to get the heart to restart.

 

"Centauri, medkit!" Kate hissed as she and Centauri began to look for a medkit. "This is a lab, there's got to be medical supplies around."

 

Meanwhile Rosetta knelt down across from Andromeda. "What happened?"

 

"Those bastards got the drop on us." Andromeda said with a grim face, nodding to a few dead Cragmites lying on the ground in front of the bulkhead. "I'm still breathing, but Rhea here got hit. No pulse. I think the mag-net launcher those bastards fired gave her a heart attack."

 

"Incoming!" Kate yelled, having found a medkit. She jumped over a few lab counters, landing close to them. She immediately opened the medkit. "Andromeda, override the security protocols of her PM-7."

 

"How? I have a PM-8!"

 

"Damn it! Rosetta, do something!"

 

Rosetta immediately began to type on a panel on his left wrist before grabbing Parallax's arm. Immediately her PM-7 opened up.

 

"Okay, back off, you two." Kate said, taking two electrodes from the medkit and holding them above Parallax. "Three, two, one, clear!"

 

A zap of electricity raced from one electrode, through Parallax's heart and back to the other electrode. No response. Kate tried again, and again, no response.

 

Thankfully, she tried a third time. Parallax's eyes shot open, and she took a deep breath. "Oh my..." she said, shaking her head to snap it back to reality.

 

"Thank us later, we have a job to do." Kate said. "Andromeda, any idea as to what those bastards are doing in there?"

 

"No idea, but I can't come up with any reason other than wanting to blow up the building with us inside."

 

Kate nodded. "Alright. We'll take point, cover us."

 

Kate and Centauri took position near the bulkhead. Kate nodded, and Centauri immediately began to hack the door while Parallax, Rosetta and Andromeda hid behind a few lab counters.

 

As soon as the door opened, Kate and Centauri pressed their backs against the wall and stayed as quiet as possible.

 

Not a sound.

 

They slowly entered the room. It was a storage room for dangerous chemicals, with various rows of canisters mounted on the walls.

 

Kate performed a thermal scan, the results of which were directly broadcasted to the HUD of all nearby teammates.

 

Immediately they ducked as a squad of Cragmites dove out of cover and opened fire. Andromeda suddenly had an idea, firing her grapple at a canister mounted on the wall and pulling it over.

 

A highly acidic compound came flowing out, distracting the Cragmites enough for the squad of Praetorians to take them out with relative ease.

 

"Good thinking." Kate said as they began to search the area.

 

Suddenly, Centauri yelled.  Move, move, move!"

 

Without a thought they raced out of there. They followed Centauri back into the elevator shaft. "What's going on?" Kate yelled.

 

"Demolition charges!" Centauri yelled. "Add to that a whole bunch of carbon, sulfur and other nasty chemicals, I reckon we have three minutes before this whole place comes down!"

 

"Couldn't we disarm them?"

 

"Negative, the timer was protected so well that it'd take at least five minutes to get through, let alone finding and disarming the other charges. Get Taylor on the radio, tell him to get the hell out!"

 

"I heard you." Kepler radioed. "Don't forget the walls of this thing are covered with metal. We can hear you loud and clear all the way up here, we're coming down."

 

"Wait." Ratchet said, before running off.

 

"What?! Where the hell are you going?!" Taylor yelled.

 

"There's something Tal keeps in her office that is very important to her." Ratchet yelled over his shoulder. "Get to safety, I'll find you guys!"

 

As they were about to use the elevator shaft once again however, the charges exploded. The building shuddered, and Kepler saw a blast of fire rise up through the elevator shaft.

 

"Damn it! Move!" He yelled. Taylor glanced down the shaft, and took off after Ratchet, the other Praetorians on his heels.

 

What was supposed to have been an easy mission had suddenly become a race against time.


	10. Chapter Ten: Urban Warfare

"Ratchet, wait up!" Kepler yelled over the sounds of explosions as they bolted after their teammate.

 

They finally caught sight of Ratchet as they stormed into the office on the second highest floor of the building.

 

Although fire was spreading through the room at a surprisingly fast pace, Ratchet was frantically searching for something.

 

He turned his head as Kepler, Tank, Luna, Taylor and Cluster came running in. "What are you looking for?" Taylor asked immediately.

 

"A photograph that's very important to Talwyn!" Ratchet yelled over his shoulder as he began to dig through some rubble that had fallen from the ceiling, as parts of it were collapsing.

 

"Is this it?" Luna asked, having dug through a pile of rubble herself and having found a cracked casing and a piece of paper that turned out to be a picture upon closer inspection, showing a Markazian man with a large hat and beard who was holding a small Markazian girl.

 

"Yes, that's it!" Ratchet said, taking the photograph. "Clank, could you keep this safe?"

 

Clank immediately stored it in his chest compartment. "We must leave now."

 

"You're not kidding!" Tank yelled as part of the roof came down next to him.

 

"Follow me!" Ratchet yelled. He ran to the window behind Talwyn's desk and smashed it with his wrench. "Come on, we gotta move!" Ratchet yelled. They all grouped up near their escape route. "Let's regroup at that rooftop!" Ratchet yelled over the fire, pointing at a building before literally swan diving out the window, his hoverboots flaring to life as he built up more and more speed.

 

And mid-flight, Clank deployed his Robo-Wings, the magnificent green fabric providing more than enough lift for Ratchet to glide down to one of the buildings surrounding the plaza.

 

Kepler, Taylor, Cluster, Tank and Luna soon followed, each using the microthrusters embedded in their armor to get upright before landing next to him.

 

They watched as the building that once was the headquarters of the PDF fell. Down below, they saw their fellow soldiers watching the building collapse, and as it did, so did one of them.

 

"Come on, let's get down there before those poor souls think we're dead." Taylor said before jumping off the building, hoverboots already flashing into life.

 

They all followed Taylor's example and landed near their comrades. Upon closer inspection, it was Kate who had fallen to her knees.

 

"Hey, no worries, we're not dead." Tank said as they landed.

 

"We know, we saw you guys fly out of the building. Some kind of escape route I presume?"

 

"Yeah, built specifically for Talwyn. She has that jetpack of hers to get to safety afterwards. Kate, are you okay?" Ratchet replied.

 

Kate said nothing, she was just sitting there with her visor open, showing her eyes closed. Suddenly, she threw up.

 

"Oh, Zoni." Andromeda said, placing a hand on Kate's back. "What’s wrong Kate?"

 

Kate was shivering and breathing heavily. "I'm... I'm not feeling well, why is this happening?"

 

Kepler nodded and radioed for a drop ship to come pick her up. As soon as he received word from the PDF that a drop ship was coming their way to pick up Kate, Kepler took a knee and laid a hand on Kate's back. She didn't feel much of it due to their armor, but the message was clear.

 

'I'm here for you, Katie.'

 

Kepler didn't move until the drop ship touched down ahead of them. "You go ahead and take care of yourself, Kate." Kepler said as she sat down inside the armored PDF vessel. "We'll take care of the city."

 

Kate nodded, shivering and looking a bit pale, before the doors closed.

 

"Okay, what now?" Kepler asked, turning to their team.

 

"Sierra-1, Bravo-4, we have a new assignment." Watchman radioed with perfect timing. "Alpha-7 has requested backup. The new objective of Sierra-1 is regrouping with Alpha-7. Bravo-4, your assignment is taking the eastern defensive lines. Those turrets may not fall into enemy hands. Watchman out."

 

"You heard it, Tay." Kepler said, eyeing his fellow squad leader.

 

"I sure did, Kep. Be safe out there, okay?" Taylor said to his comrade, saluting Kepler before Bravo-4 got to work, charging off to where the eastern defensive lines were located.

 

Rosetta glanced over his shoulder at Andromeda, who saluted him before she used her grapple to get to higher ground and follow her team.

 

(<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lzjGJcvtQc>)

 

As Sierra-1 began to move through the streets, they immediately took notice of the chaos the Cragmites had created. Various streets were blocked off by rubble, and the skies were eerily empty.

 

"Any ideas on traversing the city?" Kepler asked.

 

"I believe I may have an idea." Clank replied.

 

"Lay it on me." Kepler replied, taking in the huge buildings up ahead and trying to figure out where their target would be exactly.

 

"I have been able to download several maps of Igliak, and I have been able to pinpoint the location of our target. My suggestion is taking the maintenance catwalks, they seem to be the most efficient way currently. The nearest access point to this network is less than 100 meters away from our current position."

 

"Gotcha. Sierra-1, let's roll." Kepler said, motioning for everyone to follow him.

 

Using a nearby fire escape to climb up rather than down, they soon reached the maintenance catwalk system between buildings. The sole purpose of this network was to offer construction workers and cleaners something to stand on whilst working, but right now it would provide Sierra-1 with a way to reach a now deserted airway tunnel through a large building block

 

After running across the catwalks for several minutes they finally reached said airway tunnel. They made their way inside using Clank's Geo-Laser to cut a few small parts out of the building so they could climb up.

 

After running through the tunnel for fifteen minutes, they reached the end of it. Up ahead, across from a large square, was their target.

 

The defense cannon was massive, towering over most of the buildings and sporting an artillery piece the size of a skyscraper.

 

"Damn." Tank said. "That is one BFG right there."

 

"You know it." Rosetta said. "But how are we gonna get to it?"

 

"I got it." Centauri said, pulling out a strange-looking pistol.

 

"What's that?" Zwicky asked.

 

"Something I put together after our last mission. It's a grapple gun. I figured, why use a hook when you got this? It uses an explosive charge to fire a hook up to 1 kilometer away. All I got to do then is fire a second hook into the wall somewhere around here and a kinetic tether should form between the two."

 

"Way to go!" Kepler said, giving Centauri a pat on the back. "You should get a medal for this."

 

Centauri grinned before taking aim and firing a hook at the huge turret about half a mile ahead of them. They saw the silver-colored claw fly off until it dug into the outer wall of the cannon.

 

Centauri turned around and fired a second claw at the wall to his left. "Alright, let's go. This thing doesn't have that much power though, so we gotta move fast."

 

All members of Sierra-1 pulled out their OmniWrench, save for Ratchet and Tank. Ratchet jumped down into the abyss, robo-wings unfolding mid-flight and allowing him to glide down to the base on the cannon, where the command center was located.

 

Centauri went first, then Zwicky, then Rosetta, then Tank and Luna, but Kepler was last to go. He took a deep breath before positioning his wrench above the tether and jumping off.

 

Immediately he began to build up speed as the improvised zipline had a noticeable inclination. However, when he was flying over a large chasm, the cable suddenly began to flicker before dying out altogether, and Kepler fell down into the cloudy abyss.

 

"Kepler!" Tank yelled, who saw it happen.

 

"Clank, tell me there's something down there!"

 

"There is." Clank said, going over the maps. "It seems to be an older part of the city. The Meridian City we know today was simply built on top of an older, less technologically advanced one."

 

"I'm okay." Kepler radioed, having landed using his hoverboots. "Any ideas on a way to get back to you guys?"

 

"I am syncing my map to your HUD, but due to the connection quality it will certainly take time. While the transfer is in progress, head north for half a mile then turn left."

 

"Gotcha." Kepler said, activating his hoverboots and charging through the misty remains of old Meridian City.

 

It was not long until he noticed something was not right however.

 

"What the hell?" he whispered, slowly drawing his fingers across the huge claw marks left on the walls and floor. "Guys, there's something down here." Kepler radioed only to realize that he had no signal. He would have turned tail and inform his allies first were it not for the loud rumble he heard coming from the right.

 

Ignoring Clank's directions, Kepler went right, sneaking into the tunnel with his weapon ready.

 

Meanwhile the rest of Sierra-1 wasted no time in getting down to the control center. Running through the destroyed rooms, they finally found a staircase that lead deeper into the facility, with the sounds of yelling and gunfire coming from below.

 

Charging down the stairs, they blasted through a door and were immediately forced to seek cover as a Cragmite wielding a minigun opened fire.

 

"Sierra-1, is that you?" Webb yelled over the gunfire.

 

"Support has arrived, tell us what to do!" Centauri yelled.

 

"Shadow, take down the enemy gunner opening fire on our backup, please." Webb said, and soon enough the gunfire ceased. When the members of Sierra-1 crawled into the room to avoid getting caught out of cover, Ratchet noticed a stab wound in the back of the Cragmite's neck. "Guys, what happened to him?" he said, nodding to the dead gunner.

 

"That's Shadow's work." Webb said. "Wherever they are, they're doing great work. Anyhow, you people take those on the right, we take left."

 

"Alice, there are three teams moving in." a voice said through the comms.

 

"Thanks for the heads-up, Noscope. Think you can take out a few of them?"

 

The sound of a dampened gunshot followed. "Not without detection, but I'll take a few out. After that you're on your own. I've been spotted, one team is coming for my position. I gotta move, it's on you."

 

"Got it." Webb said before turning to hear teammates. "Sierra-1, can you take those bastards off our back while we get rid of this cannon fodder?"

 

"Got it." Centauri replied. "People, let's move!"

 

While Sierra-1 moved out to take down the two teams of Cragmites, Webb turned to Staff Sergeant Ares. "How's Thunderbird?"

 

Sebastian Ares grinned behind his visor. "Let's wreck these Craggys!"

 

"That's the spirit." Webb said. "Team, initiate Thunderbird!"

 

Ares, who had taken apart a computer and used its components to build a Taser-like weapon, threw his handwork over their cover, scoring a hit in the face.

 

The Cragmite picked up the fallen item in confusion. At that moment, Alpha-7 stood up as one and opened fire on some exposed tubes conveying cooling water from the cannon. A blast of water washed over their opponents, and as all members for Alpha-7 charged for the door, all Cragmites suddenly became aware of what their enemies had thrown.

 

They barely had time to yell "SON OF A-!" in unison before a powerful electrical shock silenced them. Webb chuckled. "Damn, these guys are stupid. Alright, Alpha-7, move in! Sierra-1, what's your status? And by the way, I didn't see Kepler."

 

Centauri spoke up. "He fell into a lower part of the city, he should be here soon."

 

Meanwhile Kepler sneaked through the old, rusted tunnels, trying to avoid making any kind of noise. As he moved on the sounds of metal got louder. It was as if someone was bringing a sledgehammer down on a sheet of titanium.

 

Kepler had followed the claw marks, trying to calm his nerves as he approached the likely cause. He tried not to think of what could be responsible, seeing as the tunnel was a good fifty meters in diameter.

 

Soon enough the sound was almost deafening. Kepler glanced around the corner, and immediately hid himself from view behind an old crate, careful not to touch the old wood to prevent it from creaking and alerting the behemoth up ahead.

 

Glancing around cover, Kepler's suspicions were confirmed. It was one of the large spider-like mechs that had attacked Fastoon during Tachyon's first attack, although the model had been updated greatly, and was no longer operated by Drophyds. Instead of having several large legs underneath, it had four study looking legs that ended with a large claw that slammed into the ground with enough force with every step the large war machine took to explain the claw marks.

 

Instead of sporting two rapid-fire ion cannons however, the updated model featured a turret on top that had a 360 degree view and no rotation limits, allowing the gunner to take down opponents on all sides of the mech.

 

The center of the massive contraption was roughly half a sphere, with a red glass dome up front for the pilot to see through and a red glass dome on top protecting the gunner. The pilot could also defend himself with front-mounted laser cannons. If his memory didn't fool him it was double-layered trillium covering the surface of the mech along with an inside of raritanium.

 

Kepler quickly snapped a picture with his PM-7. "Good lord, how am I gonna take this thing down?! But more importantly, how many are there of these?! Who knows what could be hiding in these tunnels, for all we know there's a whole Cragmite army below our feet waiting to strike!"

 

Kepler decided to act. As soon as the gunner looked away he rolled over to one of the legs and held on.

 

As the mech slowly crawled further and further through the tunnel, Kepler climbed closer to the main part of the mech. However, all of a sudden, the mech stopped.

 

Kepler immediately let go and rolled from under the mech, he had a bad feeling about this that was proven correct a second later when the mech slammed itself into the ground. Had Kepler still been underneath it, he would have been crushed.

 

The gunner turned around and opened fire. Kepler retreated, grabbing his OmniWrench in the process before taking on a Guard Stance.

 

He began to deflect the incoming fire, only to realize that the fire bounced off the walls like rubber.

 

Careful to not hurt himself with the deflected projectiles, he used the laws of geometry to send the enemy fire on a trajectory that would cause it to destroy one of its legs.

 

As soon as the gunner realized what was going on he ceased fire, but it was too late. The damaged leg began to spew sparks before coming loose altogether.

 

Kepler immediately stormed at one of the other legs and slammed his wrench into the mechanism. The leg attempted to crush the wrench hindering its movement, only to fail and die out as Kepler broke the mechanism.

 

Suddenly, his PM-7 began to sound an alarm, he had been hit. Personal shielding had greatly reduced the damage, but the PM-7 would certainly perish under the torrent of fire if Kepler wouldn't move immediately.

 

Kepler slammed his wrench into the ground and used it to launch himself onto the gunner's dome, before bringing it down on the reinforced glass.

 

After a few swings the glass shattered, and Kepler quickly jumped aside to avoid the shot the gunner fired his way with a blaster. Kepler was just fast enough to take out the gunner before he was suddenly thrown off the mech as it had found a way into the upper levels of the city, and soon enough it was clawing its way up into populated areas.

 

Thankfully, the exit also provided Kepler with a way of re-establishing communications with his team. "Guys, heads up! They have mechs below the city! Repeat, they have mechanical enforcement units making their way to street level now!"

 

"Good thing they sent something extra then." Oort radioed, sounding surprisingly amused. "Ratchet, position?"

 

"Exact coordinates sent your way, Watchman." Ratchet radioed.

 

"Good. Bogon sent a little gift along that I think you'll recognize."

 

Kepler quickly grabbed one of the mech's legs as it clawed its way to the surface, getting himself a ride up.

 

When he reached the surface however, his jaw dropped. A strange, circular, glowing pad had landed outside the defense cannon. Standing on top of it, however, was a towering titanium-clad behemoth with a head eerily similar to Clank's.

 

"What the?!" Kepler cried out.

 

"Pretty sweet, eh?" Ratchet radioed. "Did I mention Clank being from a defective warbot assembly line has it's perks? Meet 'Giant Clank', triple-layered titanium alloy with an inner shell of ultra-hardened trillium. Wrist-mounted rocket launchers provide offensive capabilities aside from his devastating ion blasts, and add to that the fact that Clank can hit as hard as a speeding freighter can hit a Pokitarian melon. Those mechs are toast."

 

Squinting, Kepler noticed Ratchet outside the defense cannon's control center entrance. However, he realized his mistake of not paying attention a moment too late.

 

One of the mech's legs would have crushed him were it not for the bullet suddenly jamming the gears, buying Kepler enough time to roll out of the way before the metal claw came down with an ear-shattering crash.

 

"Recommend you pay attention a little more, Sir." came Sergeant Isa "Noscope" Amari's sarcastic response.

 

"Thanks." Kepler radioed before getting back on track. Running over the metal leg so conveniently placed next to him, Kepler reached the mech's cockpit and smashed the window. He jumped in and began to fight with the mech's pilot for dominance.

 

However, he had not foreseen that the pilot could have been expecting this move, and before he could even realize his mistake a heated trillium-fiber knife had been forced into his gut.

 

Shaking off the pain as the pilot began to pull on the jagged blade for the kill, Kepler rammed the back of his trusty firearm into the pilot's jaw before executing him at point-blank range.

 

 

 

Immediately the lack of control caused the mech to collapse, burying Kepler and the pilot under several layers of dense alloy.

 

"Kepler, status?!" Ratchet frantically cried out upon seeing it happen, but the damage done by the knife had taken its toll. Kepler was coughing up blood over the consoles, leaving him unable to respond to anything.

 

The last things Kepler noticed before everything went dark was Ratchet frantically shouting over the comms as well as thundering footsteps approaching.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Bigger Plans

Kate's breathing was shaky and she let her head rest in her hands, fingers running through her hair. She hadn't rested for a second after she had learned of what took place on Igliak.

 

She was sitting outside the infirmary aboard the largest Polaris Defense Force starship, while in the room behind her, Kepler was undergoing surgery.

 

He was in a bad way when they had rushed his body into the infirmary, and his vitals were dropping by the second.

 

She heard the doctors run about inside, and she let out a cry of misery and pain, burying her face in her hands.

 

Ratchet came running up to her. "Are you okay?"

 

"No!" she cried, getting up. "I'm not okay! If he dies, then... then..."

 

She sat back down and dug her nails into her face until blood dripped down her fingers. Ratchet immediately pulled her hands back. "Hey, don't go maiming that face now."

 

"I deserve the pain! I left him to die when I should’ve been tough and pressed on!" she cried.

 

"What ridiculousness is that?!"

 

"If only I had stayed behind..."

 

"Stop, Kate. Just stop. There's nothing you could have done."

 

"But I-"

 

"Nothing. You weren't feeling well, Kate. And even if you were there, how do you think you would have been able to make any kind of difference?"

 

Kate only shivered, ears lowering.

 

"Kate, please, don't go hurt yourself over something you could not have prevented anyway. I know how hard it is to admit you've failed, but admitting one's weaknesses shows their truest strength."

 

Kate sighed, burying her face in her hands. Ratchet grabbed her shoulder and pulled her hands away. "Hey now, don't go maim that pretty face of yours."

 

"You hitting on me?" She asked, slightly amused.

 

"What? No! Just cause I give you a rightful compliment doesn't mean that I'm into you!" Ratchet said, making Kate laugh. "Relax." she said. "Thanks for the compliment, and for the laugh. Helps me keep my mind off things if only for a moment."

 

"Glad to hear it worked then." Ratchet said.

 

Kate stayed silent, ears lowering again as she stared into the distance. "Kepler and I had something once." she suddenly said.

 

"You what?"

 

"I said we were in love once."

 

"Oh?"

 

"Yeah, back when we first met. First time we were all grouped together and formed Sierra-one. Sparks flew between us, and whaddaya know, ended up being a couple."

 

"What happened?"

 

"It just... didn't work out between us I guess."

 

She sighed. "Ratchet, I... I thought I got over him, but... I can't seem to be able to let go. I often find myself lying awake at night wondering how it happened, too. Like, did I do something wrong? Or was it his fault? I keep thinking if, had I done something differently, would we still be together? Ratchet... I don't care that we're not together anymore, I just... I can't let go. I'm not ready to accept not being able to see him again every day. It... it still kinda feels like we're together even though we're not, simply because he's my best friend. The thought of never seeing Kepler again drives me mad."

 

"Do you want to be together?"

 

"I... I don't know that either. But I know one thing, I can't stand living without him forever. Ratchet, please tell me he's gonna be okay."

 

Ratchet wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know how you feel." he said. "I nearly lost Clank a few times. And it told me something very important. Sometimes you don't know when you miss something until it's gone."

 

"What did you do?"

 

Ratchet chuckled. "I held on to the only thing I had left: hope. I know it sounds pathetic, but it's true. I swore to myself that I would never stop searching until I'd find him, even if I'd have to turn this whole damn universe upside down."

 

Kate chuckled. "Thanks."

 

Meanwhile, Kepler was wandering through a dark void, a familiar, echoing laugh haunting him with every step.

 

"Show yourself, coward!" He yelled into the void, only getting another laugh in return. "Gladly."

 

Tachyon appeared in front of him, in the same mechanical throne that he had used during his first attack on Fastoon. "Well, so you are supposed to be a Praetorian?" Tachyon said mockingly. "What a pathetic example of your species. I might as well annihilate you and do everyone a favor."

 

"Get out of my way." Kepler growled, reaching for his weapon only to realize that it wasn't there, the only thing he had was his OmniWrench. "Good enough." he thought, readying the weapon.

 

He attempted to strike the mobile throne, only to be sent flying several feet by one swing of it's legs.

 

Meanwhile, Kepler's vital signs were declining. "Doctor, we're losing him." a nurse said.

 

However, where Kepler was, he didn't hear it. He attempted to attack a second time, which only yielded the same result, and his vitals declined further.

 

Outside the room, it was as if Kate could sense the turmoil inside. "Come on, Kep." she whispered. "We need you!"

 

It was as if Kepler had heard those words, because he suddenly knew exactly what to do.

 

He tried to go for an attack only to suddenly jump aside at the last moment. The leg missed him, and he slammed his wrench into the ground, sending him flying on top of the mech. He immediately kicked Tachyon in the face. "This one is for everyone you hurt!"

 

Before Tachyon could even respond, Kepler smashed the Cragmite's teeth with his wrench before grabbing Tachyon's neck and jumping off the mech, holding the Cragmite below himself and slamming him into the ground.

 

"Well, look at you." Kepler said. "Who’s the week one now, bitch?”

 

Suddenly, Tachyon vanished, and the world around Kepler began to crack, an intense light filtering through as it began to tear up further and further, until Kepler found himself falling into a void of pure light.

 

In reality, his vital signs were stabilizing. "Good work, people. I think we're done here. Patch him up with some Nanotech and he's good to go." the medical specialist that Talwyn had called in said.

 

Three minutes later, the doors next to Kate opened, and a doctor rolled a bed out with Kepler in it.

 

Judging by the glistering of his half-closed eyes, Kepler was only barely conscious. Kate wanted to jump onto the bed and hug the life out of him out of joy but thankfully she was able to keep calm.

 

She and Ratchet followed the doctor before he parked Kepler in a room full of beds, where wounded soldiers could regain their strength. "He's been through hell." the doctor said. "Don't be surprised if he'd kill for some sleep."

 

"Thanks, doc." Ratchet replied.

 

"Anytime. Be careful with him, you two." the robotic doctor said before walking out the door.

 

Kate pulled a chair over to Kepler's bed and sat down. "Hey." she whispered.

 

“Hey Keppy.” She replied.

 

He let out a laugh but stopped quickly, for it hurt like hell. “Now you know I don’t like when people call me that, Katie! How are you feeling anyways?”

 

"I'm fine, Kep. It was something I contracted on Opertus, but thankfully the doctor was able to provide me with an injection of antibodies that quickly got rid of the disease."

 

"That’s epic!" Kepler said before he slowly began to doze off.

 

"You don't have to stay, Ratchet." Kate whispered when Kepler had fallen asleep. "I'll look after him."

 

"What are you gonna do now?"

 

Kate sighed. "I don't know. I mean, what if Kep moved on?"

 

"You won't ever know until you try."

 

"Perhaps." she said, staring off into the distance.

 

"Thing is, do you want him back?"

 

"I... I gotta think about all of this. Thanks for helping out."

 

"Any day." Ratchet said before saluting them both and walking out the door.

 

He headed to the ship's control room, where he met up with Watchman.

 

"How's Kep doing?" Watchman asked.

 

"He got it badly, medics say it's a miracle he's still breathing. That knife that that lowlife Cragmite forced into him wasn't only jagged for maximum damage, but also covered with a toxic substance. Thankfully the doctors managed to get rid of it."

 

Oort nodded. "Thankfully indeed, I'm not keen on losing anybody today, especially one of my best soldiers. When will he be back up and running?"

 

"Depends on his determination, it can range anywhere from a few months to three days."

 

"This is Lieutenant Kepler. I'd give it two days." Oort replied.

 

They both laughed. "Ah, that guy would storm into a warzone in his boxers if he'd have to." Oort said before shaking his head. "Anyhow, we're heading back to Fastoon. We may have beaten them here, but we still got a lot of work to do."

 

That’s when the words 'Incoming Transmission' appeared on the monitors. One of the pilots turned to Oort. "Sir, what should we do?"

 

"Accept. Let's see who this is and what they want."

 

"Sir, yes sir!"

 

The words on the monitors were replaced with the face of someone Ratchet knew all too well. "Sasha?" he said in disbelief.

 

"Great to see you, Hotshot." Sasha said as Talwyn came walking in. "Great to see you too, captain Apogee."

 

"Hello major Phyronix, is there something we can help you with?"

 

Sasha took a deep breath. "Solana has fallen. Marcadia is now under Cragmite control."

 

"What happened to the Galactic President?"

 

"We have been able to extract the president, he is aboard the vessel that I am calling you from."

 

As if on cue, President Phyronix himself walked into view. "You're darn right I am." he said, looking more serious than Ratchet had ever seen him. "Captain Apogee, general Oort." he said, nodding to his two allies before turning to Ratchet. "Ratchet, I don't think I'll have to tell you of the situation Solana Galaxy is in right now."

 

Ratchet nodded. "Your daughter has been able to explain the situation. What sectors are under Cragmite control?"

 

"We've got a map here. We're currently approaching Fastoon at warp speed, we'll be there in a day."

 

"Roger." Talwyn said. "I will ensure a clear landing site."

 

"Thank you, captain Apogee." president Phyronix said with a nod. "Phyronix, out."

 

Meanwhile Kepler regained consciousness. Kate was surprised. "Up already?"

 

"Meh, I'll have plenty of time to rest later. Kate... can you show me Igliak?"

 

Kate bit her lip in thought, before nodding. She pushed Kepler's bed to the windows before opening the blinds.

 

Kepler gasped. Large marks had been left in the surface of Igliak, as if a huge beast of fire had drawn its claws across the surface of the planet.

 

Kate's communicator beeped. "Eridani." she said upon establishing the transmission.

 

"Kate, brace yourself." Ratchet said before a hologram formed above her communicator. She and Kepler stared at it in disgust.

 

Tachyon stood upon a rock in front of the destroyed city, although a minor flicker in the background showed that it was a monitor displaying the destroyed capital of Polaris.

 

"Citizens of Polaris! I know you know my name, so do not deny it! You have felt my wrath and know that we, the true rulers of this universe and all of existence, the Cragmite species, will not hesitate to leave all resisting worlds in a similar state once we have taken over. Any citizen caught failing to share any info they have on the whereabouts of the few forces still in our way will become lunch for a Snagglebeast, regardless of age, gender or species. Regarding races, any person belonging to the Lombax species is hereby ordered to travel to Mukow and await execution. Know that anyone who shows up will be executed quickly, but anyone trying to hide and anyone trying to hide a Lombax for that matter will meet a cruel fate. Think of things such as drowning whilst hungry Sharkagators are released, or getting drenched in an anti-burning liquid before being thrown into a fire. We will make examples out of anyone disobeying. I shall make this very clear. From this point onward, anyone disobeying or trying to resist will receive very cruel punishments. And one last thing." Tachyon said as he leaned forward, smiling sadistically. "Citizens of Solana and Bogon, if I were you I would grow accustomed to these new rules. Solana is practically Cragmite Empire already, and if it were not for travel times Bogon would be too. Emperor Tachyon, out."

 

Kepler was shivering with anger. Kate pressed her hand against his forehead and pushed him into his pillow. "Relax, Kep. You're turning redder than usual." she jokingly said, making Kepler chuckle despite his hatred toward Tachyon. "You know it." he said with a smile, before he sat up. "Hey, Kate. Listen, about Igliak, there's nothing you could have done. Some things just happen."

 

She nodded, ears lowering. Kepler leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Keep calm, buddy. We'll get them."

 

Kate sighed, and nodded. "Thanks, Kep." she said. "I couldn't wish for a better squad leader."

 

"Whoo, means I'm doing well at my job then!"

 

Kate laughed. "Kepler, go to sleep. I'll wake you up once we get back to Fastoon."

 

Kepler reluctantly agreed, rolling around in his bed before drifting off into a deep sleep.

 

Kate walked out the door and called Ratchet. A hologram of said Lombax appeared over her communicator. "Ratchet, any ideas as to the origin of that signal?"

 

"Negative, it was sent hours ago and has been redirected past Rykan, Sargasso, Cobalia, Nundac, even Ublik before reaching Igliak's satellite system. By the time it got here, any transmitting ships would be long gone."

 

"Damn it. We can't eradicate this little pest unless we find him."

 

"True. Clank and Aphelion are hard at work at digging through the signal for info, but I think our best bet would be a meeting at Fastoon with our allies. I've already warned Fizzwidget of the Cragmite invasion, he'll take things from there he said."

 

Kate sighed. "Fastoon it is then."

 

* * *

 

Several hours later the fleet landed at Fastoon in the designated landing site in a more barren area.

The seven Ranger motherships stayed in orbit, lacking landing capabilities and being designed specifically for spatial use.

 

The remaining Megacorp vessels and robotic units were safely transferred to the Ranger fleet to group up with the remaining Ranger sentries.

 

After dinner, everyone went to their tents, save for Rosetta, who went to Andromeda's tent. He found her in her bed, lying on her back while playing a game on a handheld console. She was wearing a grey sleeveless shirt and dark grey pants, no gloves or footwear. She looked up from the console when he entered. "Hey." she said with a smile, pausing her game and putting the console under her bed. "How are you doing?"

 

Rosetta smiled. “Getting bored by yourself there?”

 

“You bet your ass”. She said, giggling. She handed him a controller and the two played for a while.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Ratchet woke up early. After his attempts at trying to sleep further failed, he decided to get up.

 

After putting on his Holoflux armor he stepped out of his tent. Out of boredom he climbed one of the few remaining buildings that overlooked the camp site. To his surprise, he found General Oort standing there staring out into the wastelands. As if he could sense that Ratchet was there, he glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, it's you!" he said.

 

Ratchet saluted.

 

"Couldn't sleep either, eh?" Oort said with a smile.

 

"Yeah. Not after what happened on Igliak."

 

"Tell me about it." Oort said. "But that's not why I'm up so early. There's a package arriving in a few minutes."

 

"A package?"

 

"Supplies straight from Asfaleia. In fact, I better get moving. You're free to come with me if you'd like."

 

"Well, sure." Ratchet said. Oort nodded and jumped down fifteen meters, landing on his feet and left hand. He got up and eyed Ratchet, who was staring down at him. Ratchet quickly followed, using his hoverboots to slow himself down.

 

They made their way to the portal site. PDF forces stood guard around the square, and the portal appeared a few minutes later.

 

Ratchet watched as something began to emerge from the portal. Squinting, Ratchet saw that it was a Lombax, pulling on a steel cable as he dragged something through the portal.

 

Ratchet watched with a dropped jaw as that single Lombax, wearing high tech mechanic gear, pulled a huge cart through the portal.

 

"Damn." Ratchet said as he saw what was on it. As soon as the cart was through the portal, the portal vanished. Oort frowned. "Hey, what are they still doing here?"

 

They walked over to the soldier. "Pin, the hell are you doing here?" Oort asked.

 

"Pin?" Ratchet mumbled in thought.

 

The mechanic looked at the General. "General Oort, my man! How's things over here?"

 

"Wait..." Ratchet said. "You are Elder Pin?"

 

The Lombax's gaze shifted to Ratchet. "The one and only, haha!"

 

Ratchet was flabbergasted. He had expected Pin to be, well, elder. Instead the man standing before him could not be older than 21. Pin suddenly burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Ratchet asked, frowning.

 

"You really are still walking around with that BS Holoflux armor? Man, that's baby stuff! What if you're up against heavy artillery or an ion cannon? Holoflux don't tech those, man! A hero like you should deserve an armor equally as badass."

 

"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked.

 

"Come on, you know what I mean. You might as well storm into combat naked, that Holoflux ain't got no damage reduction whatsoever! You deserve a PM-7, something more up-to-speed."

 

"A PM-7?!"

 

"Pin!" Oort interrupted him, less than pleased by the man's informality. "Have you found the problem with Kepler’s PM-7? That blade shouldn't even have gotten through the shielding."

 

"I dunno, General. Its likely a freak even. But I mean c’mon, stuff happens."

 

"Pinnnnn."

 

"I’m sorry I really can't explain it. Not yet at least. But why fret over those old PM-7's? There's a reason I'm working on an upgrade."

 

"Uuh... how old are you?" Ratchet asked.

 

"21, why?"

 

"21 and you made seven armor sets already, with the eighth already in development and nearing completion? And you have the title of elder? What are you?" Ratchet asked, jaw dropped.

 

Pin burst out laughing. "Ah, nothin' but well-educated, a coffee addict, and some severe OCD. I'll get started on that PM-7 o' yours."

 

"Pin! There is no time for such unrelated matters. Why are you here anyways?"

 

"To give those PM-7's a good checkup, can't storm into battle when your armor isn't cooperating, now can you?"

 

"Hmpf. At least you got the ships."

 

"Sure did, general. Check 'em out!"

 

"Vortex-21 aircrafts." Oort mumbled with a grin as he ran his eyes over the streamlined hull of the ships on the cart behind Pin. "My favorite ship design there is."

 

"Vortex?"

 

Pin chuckled. "Oh, poor you. Well, you're free to look, but I ain't cleaning up your drool, y'hear?"

 

Pin motioned for Ratchet to follow him as he stepped onto the cart hovering over the ground.

 

He walked over to the first ship on the right. "Ratchet, meet Vega. She's not turned on right now, but she belongs to your friend Kepler. Check it out – 5 gigahertz octa-core processor, 24 gigabytes of RAM and a GPU powerful enough to keep the built-in monitor running at a resolution of 4K by 2K with 60 frames per second, and that all combined by the finest motherboards available."

 

"Damnnnnnnnnnnn."

 

"You said it. State of the art warp drive – should get you across Polaris in an hour and to Bogon in, what, two days at max?"

 

"That's nothing, I made the trip from Bogon to Solana once in less than an hour using a gravimetric warp drive."

 

"Ah, that kind of warp drive? Meh, you can reroute the power to the warp drive and have them running at three times the power, whatever suits you. Guardians are wise enough to be able to make those decisions on their own. Anyhow, despite the classic two-winged models out there, I decided to go for a single wing on each side. The wings themselves can turn to help turn in-atmosphere but other than that they got no use besides looking pretty badass."

 

"They sure do." Ratchet said, letting his hand rest on the fine semi-transparent glowing green fiber making up the inside of the wing. "I suppose this is some kind of ultra-light fabric?"

 

"Bull's eye, amigo! It's one of those new 'miracle materials' that the nerds over in the LC are losing their heads over... like me." Pin said with a chuckle. "Anyhow, a dual engine cluster allows it to go faster a majority of the opposition while three more, smaller engines can also be activated if necessary for superb speed and maneuverability."

 

"Wicked." Ratchet said, eyeing the engine cluster in the back. "These things are incredible!"

 

Pin laughed. "Told you." I feel sorry for the imbeciles that will find themselves chased by these ships."

 

* * *

 

Talwyn, Ratchet, Clank, Elder Pin and general Oort stood ready as several large ships descended to the golden surface of Fastoon. Their white-golden color scheme gave their alliance away – these were the highest-class Ranger aircrafts.

 

The eight smaller ones landed first, forming a circle in which the largest ship touched down. The smaller ships all lowered a ramp allowing the crew to descend to the surface, and a whole army of Ranger drones followed by groups of organic soldiers disembarked the landed vessels. The largest ship also opened up and, escorted by several groups of elite Ranger drones, out came a few familiar faces. "Sasha, Skidd, Helga, Al!" Ratchet said excitedly as he walked up to them. "Good to see all of you again."

 

Sasha gave Ratchet a hug. "Glad to see you're still in one piece, hotshot." she said. There was a hint of hurt in her voice that indicated the amount of people that they had lost during the invasion of the Cragmites.

 

"In the flesh, little dudes!" Skidd said to Ratchet as well as Clank, who came walking over. "Still breathing, but it was a close call."

 

"Hm." Helga said, eyeing Ratchet. "Vell, it seems you haven't turned into a small planet vhen I vas away. Zat's commendable, I guess." she said with her ever-present heavy accent.

 

Ratchet laughed before turning to Al. "Hey, Al. I see you've had an upgrade since last we met?"

 

Al chuckled. "Upgrade is a small word. Since half of my brain was disintegrated by Ace," he stated as if it was as normal as any daily task. "I needed the computer to take over the destroyed areas. Since then I've installed newer hardware models of course, if there's one thing I can't stand it's walking around with outdated stuff – how can I run a robo-shack if I can't even run myself? But that aside, what armor is that?" he said, eyeing the Holoflux.

 

"Outdated." Pin said, who came walking over. "Wanna see some real tech?"

 

"Blow my mind." Al said, following Pin.

 

Talwyn walked up to Sasha and shook her hand. "Good to see you, major Phyronix." She then turned to Solana's president. "President Phyronix, I am happy to see you have made it here safely."

 

Phyronix nodded. "There's no time to chat, I'm afraid. Captain Apogee, where can we discuss the state of Solana?"

 

"Follow me, mister President." Talwyn said. She, Ratchet, president Phyronix, Sasha and Oort walked to an old bunker that had survived both Tachyon and time.

 

Inside, they sat down around a table. Ratchet turned on a monitor, and Mr. Fizzwidget appeared on-screen. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." he said, adjusting his glasses a little. "I shall be representing Bogon during this meeting, as the galaxy's president is up to his eyeballs in work with Tachyon's latest threat."

 

President Phyronix nodded. "Alright then. As you all already know, Solana has fallen."

 

He nodded to his daughter, who pulled out a flash drive. Oort left the room for a moment, only to return two minutes later with a projector.

 

Sasha gave him a thankful nod and inserted the flash drive. The projector began to display a map of Solana Galaxy, with parts colored green and parts colored red. Ratchet noticed that the only green splotches remaining were at the edge of the galaxy. Some important planets were also enlarged. Ratchet frowned when he saw that Veldin was one of the conquered planets.

 

Sasha took out a laser pen and began to use the light to point at certain areas on the map.

 

"As you call can see, Marcadia is under Cragmite control. The only remaining Ranger forces have gone into hiding in these two sectors at the edge of the system. These three sectors have not been taken over yet, but the Cragmites won't wait, so it's safe to assume these sectors have been taken over by now."

 

"How many military forces do you have left?" Oort asked.

 

"Two thousand Ranger bots. Twenty thousand in Solana."

 

"This certainly is a perilous situation." Fizzwidget said, staring at the map in thought. "With the incoming Cragmite invasion of Bogon I doubt I'll be of much help, but I could have the science geeks running around here keep an eye on the galaxy and scan for major Cragmite fleets. We're busy identifying their technological signature so we can locate the fleet heading for Bogon, you see."

 

"That would be much appreciated." Sasha said. "Known locations of Cragmite activity are Marcadia, Aridia and Mylon. Nefarious' old weapon production site at Daxx also seems to be up and running again, which is likely linked to the Cragmite activity."

 

"What was under construction there at the time?" Talwyn asked.

 

"Something codenamed the 'bio-bliterator'. Its purpose was to transform organic life into robotic life as part of a vendetta against organic life forms. It also had the ability to take on the form of a huge robotic mech however, which is what most concerns me."

 

"Sash, we got one of those on our side too." Ratchet said.

 

"What?"

 

"I never told you that Clank can take on a huge form?"

 

"No, you didn't. I hope I don't get to see a life demonstration though."

 

"Why not?" Ratchet said with a raised eyebrow.

 

"Because that'd mean that we'd be in a lot of trouble," Talwyn explained, "if we'd need such firepower."

 

"Alright." Sasha said. "Any ideas as to how we can kick this scum out of our galaxy?"

 

Talwyn stood up. Sasha offered her the laser pen, which Talwyn thankfully accepted. "I've done some research in advance," Talwyn began, "and I think I have found a weak link.

 

She used the laser pen to highlight an area on the edge of Solana. "Planet Tamrak."

 

Oort also stood up. "We're proposing something called 'Operation: Foothold'. It involves taking Tamrak and using it as a base of operations for missions in Solana. It's located just outside the galaxy actually, giving it a strategic position. There aren't many planets the Cragmites can set up a similar base due to the low star density in this area."

 

"What's the plan for the operation?" President Phyronix asked.

 

"The plan is to HALO-dive to the surface of Tamrak. To blind any anti-air systems even further the plan is to launch the troops to Tamrak from the surface of one of the planet's moons using magnetic cannons and special shells."

 

"How would that work?"

 

"The shells are hollow and allow for ten troops per shell. The magnetic cannons would use the properties of the metal to accelerate the shells to several kilometers per second in the span of only a single second. Because the amount of force is hundreds of G's, we also have a plan to combat this. Tell me, are your Ranger robots waterproof?"

 

"Water-proof, insulated and radiation-proof, why?" Sasha asked.

 

"If we fill the shell with water, the water will convey the force away from the forces hiding inside. They will require oxygen equipment though for the two hour journey to Tamrak. Once they reach the planet, the shells will penetrate the atmosphere with ease due to their sleek design before blasting themselves open at an altitude of ten kilometers, from where the HALO-jump will begin. We can use the fact that the moon is tidally locked and Tamrak's relatively fast rotation period to our advantage."

 

"Another crucial part is the orbital bombardment." Talwyn added. "The first few shells will be filled with explosive payloads to cripple any on-site forces and defenses. All the ground troops have to do is finish the job."

 

"What about that cannon, wouldn't it be spotted in advance?" Fizzwidget asked.

 

"Not necessarily. The design is a shaft leading half a mile into the moon, which we can cover up easily."

 

Fizzwidget nodded. "Sounds like a fine plan, ladies and gentlemen. I will return to overseeing the creation of a defensive army for Bogon now, be sure to inform me of the mission's outcome. I will keep you all posted regarding the status of Bogon. We sure as heck won't give up so easily." the eccentric head of Megacorp said before the screen went black.

 

"Do you have any comments on the attack plan, Sir?" Ratchet asked president Phyronix. "No, as a matter of fact I don't. It has my stamp of approval, so to speak."

 

"It's settled then." Oort said. "We'll leave for Tamrak tomorrow. Building the cannon will likely take only three hours with today's technology. Only thing is we can't send too many ships there, so we'll have to wait for the bombardment to end before sending in the ships."

 

President Phyronix stood up and shook Oort's hand, then Talwyn's. "It's good having reliable allies in times like these." he said.


	12. Chapter twelve: Op Foothold

Ratchet twisted and turned as he tried to fall asleep, but found his eyes unwilling to close. After an hour he finally caught a few minutes of sleep, only to reawaken half an hour later, panting after a nightmare.

 

He had been back at the PDF headquarters, the flames clawing at him as he made his way to Talwyn's office.

 

Inside he found something terrible. The office had been trashed, and he found Talwyn pinned to the ground by a sharp metal bar. She had pleaded for him to save her with tears in her eyes and Ratchet had tried everything he could, but it was too late.

 

Talwyn let out an ear-shattering screech as the flames dug into her skin, and Ratchet had been sent right back to reality by the shock.

 

Looking around, he noticed that he hadn't woken up anyone else in the tent, and he let out a sigh of relief.

 

Ratchet sneaked out of the tent and made his way to the pool that he had swam through on his very first visit to Fastoon, a ten minute walk from the camp site.

 

Ratchet tossed away the shirt of his pajamas and dove into the water, the cold liquid washing away the sweat and shifting his mind into high gear.

 

After swimming around for ten minutes Ratchet climbed out and put his shirt back on, before making his way back to the camp site.

 

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

 

Ratchet jumped. He noticed Kepler leaning against a broken building. "Yeah." he replied.

 

Kepler grinned. "Change into some dry clothing, then come back here."

 

Ratchet did as he was told, and a few minutes later he met up with Kepler in his Holoflux armor, worn over some regular clothing. Kepler himself was wearing his PM-7. "Come." Kepler said, motioning for Ratchet to follow. "The PDF shipped over something really cool yesterday."

 

They entered a surprisingly well-preserved building, or at least, Ratchet thought it was before he realized the building had been restored to its former glory.

 

The inside was nothing like the outside however. Instead of sandstone the walls, floor and roof were metallic, each of the panels showing a strange grid-like pattern. Even the back of the door was covered in the strange fabric.

 

Kepler walked over to a console embedded in the wall behind them and typed something in, before the room began to change.

 

"What is this?"

 

"Virtual training, or as the PDF calls it, 'combat immersion'." Kepler said. They found themselves in a frozen town. There were holes in the buildings, and snow was falling down from the sky. The slight mist and eerie silence only further added to it.

 

"Hey, sleepyhead!" Kepler yelled to Ratchet. Ratchet turned around. Kepler was standing next to an unusual-looking machine. "What gun do you want?"

 

"Alpha Disruptor?" Ratchet said questioningly. The machine came to life, and an Alpha Disruptor materialized in a glass case on top of the device. Kepler took it out and tossed it at Ratchet, who caught the weapon.

 

"Alright, my turn. KX-14." Kepler said. The machine gave a beep, indicating that it had not found the weapon.

 

"Whoops, I forgot something." Kepler said, pulling out a flash drive and inserting it in a designated slot. Immediately his weapon of choice materialized.

 

It was a shotgun-like weapon, slim in design and with a dark grey color. The ammunition was located in a long clip under the barrel of the weapon, and iron sights provided accuracy if hip fire wasn't enough.

 

"Wow." Ratchet said, eyeing the weapon.

 

"It's a nice one, eh? It's an old one too, these ones were used during the time of the first Great War so long ago. After all this time they still work like a charm. Granted, the science geeks have buffed the weapon since, like increased damage output, shorter reload times, that sort of thing, but in the end, the gun still works quite similar. Now, on to the fun part."

 

Kepler pressed a red button, and immediately they were forced to take cover as a sniper opened fire on Kepler's head.

 

Thankfully the PM-7's infrared visor had caught the attacker.

 

"Here." Kepler said, offering Ratchet a computer chip as they took cover behind a wall. "Something Pin quickly threw together for you. While he's still getting your PM-7 ready for duty, this chip should allow you to join in with the 'Hive Mind' program of the later PM models. Ergo, if any of us see an enemy, we all see them."

 

"Wicked." Ratchet said, installing the new piece of technology. Kepler glanced over their cover, and Ratchet could see the outline of a sniper through the wall.

 

Kepler made a run for it. He slid behind a pillar before diving behind a house. Grabbing his shotgun tightly he approached the position of their attacker at rapid pace, while Ratchet drew the sniper's attention with cover fire.

 

Soon enough Kepler popped up behind their attacker. "No sleeping on the job!" he yelled before giving the Cragmite a mug full of buckshot. The creature disintegrated into blue particles.

 

Next, a squad of Cragmites closed in on them but proved no match for the Alpha Disruptor. Ratchet laughed.

 

This was gonna be fun.

 

* * *

 

Finally their last opponent fell. Kepler gave Ratchet a fist bump. "We sure showed them!" Ratchet said.

 

"You bet, we make a great team!"

 

"Yeah. You should probably catch some z's now though, we're leaving for planet Tamrak in three hours, remember?"

 

Ratchet shook his head. "I can't sleep. Let's just do the simulation again."

 

Kepler shrugged. "Alright then. I'll get us a different map though. How about... ah, there we go." he said, messing with the computer terminal. "A mission of the first Great War, operation Hypocenter. The goal is to retake a Cragmite command center in the middle of a foggy swamp. Think you're up for the challenge?"

 

"RYNO 7." Ratchet said to the computer with a grin.

 

* * *

 

The flight to Tamrak went without casualties, although Ratchet and Kepler slept through most of the two-day journey, Kate watching over them whilst shaking her head with an amused grin.

 

"Alright, everyone, listen up." Oort said as their ship entered Tamrak airspace. It was a small armored Megacorp vessel with specialized cloaking and anti-detection technology, the same shuttle that had ferried a team of engineers to the planet two days earlier. Talwyn had stayed in Polaris, while Oort had joined the first ship heading to Solana. "If we're gonna send our soldiers to another galaxy to kick ass I'm sure as hell gonna be there." he had said to Talwyn after she questioned his move to oversee the liberation of Solana. Sasha would join him at the front in a matter of days, that is, if they managed to capture the planet. President Phyronix and Captain Apogee were to remain in Polaris and coordinate stuff from there.

 

Oort held on to a rail running along the ship's ceiling with his left hand to stay on his feet as the ship swayed heavily from side to side. Although his face was a steel mask of calmness, his tail swayed excitedly from side to side.

 

The soldiers were seated in rows of two seats on each side of the narrow path running along the symmetry axis of the spaceraft.

 

Ratchet was sitting next to Kepler, who was rubbing his eyes. "Tired?" Ratchet whispered. Kepler shook his head. "Nah, my eye's being a jerk."

 

"Lieutenant, you okay there?" Oort said, noticing Kepler.

 

"I'll be fine Sir, thank you. Please proceed with your presentation."

 

Oort nodded. Kate and Luna were sitting in the row behind Ratchet and Kepler, the sixth row, right side. Tank and Rosetta in the row behind that.

 

"On-site engineering teams are making some final adjustments to a magnetic cannon created on the surface of one of Tamrak's moons. The plan is to go planetside in groups of ten using specially-developed magnetic shells. These shells will be filled with water to convey the G-forces. This means that every one of you needs to do a checkup on their rebreather systems. Also, who here has a PM-8?"

 

Several people raised their hands, Luna among them.

 

"Alright then. As you may know some PM-8 rebreathers have been determined to be faulty, as shown by what happened in the lake on Opertus. So, Elder Pin of the Center of Advanced Lombax Research is here to install the repairs in person."

 

Ratchet saw Elder Pin stand up from his seat in the front left of the ship. "Hiya, folks!" he shouted, an excited grin on his face. "Alright, who's in need of some fixes for their oxygen equipment?"

 

After Pin had finished updating all PM-8's (which turned out to be as easy as 'slam-dunking the module into the right slot' as Pin put it) he took position next to Oort. "Alright, the General also asked me to inform y'all on how these shells work exactly. Because of the G-forces they are made of solid trillium and thus, from the inside, you cannot see. You'll be helped into a shell in groups of ten, before we close it off and fill it with water. It may get a little cramped up in there, but don't worry, you'll be just fine. After launch the trip to Tamrak takes about two hours. The computer will log the air pressure upon atmospheric entry and thus will warn you all in advance before it deploys. When it does, get ready to roll! You'll be ten kilometers up in the air, HALO-dive to about three then deploy your parachutes."

 

Clank, who was sitting in Ratchet's lap, could not suppress a giggle. "Parachutes, how primitive." he mumbled.

 

"Showoff." Ratchet mumbled back with a grin.

 

Oort frowned all of a sudden and reached for his ear with his right hand. After a few moments, he nodded. "Alright, people, listen up. We're about to land. Tamrak's moon has no atmosphere, so seal your helmets."

 

Everyone sealed their PM-7 or PM-8 bulletproof tactical visors, save for Ratchet who deployed his Rebreather, and Clank and the other robotic units on-board did not need oxygen equipment. Sasha had sent what Ranger forces remained along with her personal Elite Ranger squad operating under the callsign 3-4 Zulu.

 

Everyone stood up and their seats retracted into the floor of the armored vessel. Oort took position at the boarding ramp in the back of the ship. "Alright, everyone. Once this ramp opens we'll be in 0.1 g, meaning that you'll feel ten times as light. Keep an eye on your O2 and radiation levels, and follow me to the base. Captain Apogee sent over some supplies a few hours ago, so the plan is to eat something first, then get to work. That'll also give the hardhats some more time to ensure everything works fine."

 

"De-pressurization initiated." the pilot informed through speakers embedded in the interior of the vessel, and immediately the air was drained from the room.

 

The boarding ramp began to open, showing the ravaged and cratered surface of a dull grey, rocky moon. "Stay close, and keep a clear head." Oort said before running down the boarding ramp.

 

Everyone followed suit, keeping their weapons ready as they traversed the barren landscape.

 

"Soldiers, watch out for the shadows." Oort radioed. "Since this place has no atmosphere, expect significant temperature drops there."

 

"Hey Ratchet, you doing alright?" Kepler radioed on a private channel.

 

"Doing great here, Kep! How about you?"

 

Kepler laughed. "Been a while since I’ve been in 0.1g, its brining back memories of the days I would go out exploring in Vega and land on some weird ass places, and one could always feel some odd effects when in that gravity level, unsurprisingly."

 

"0.1g is great, huh?" Ratchet asked.

 

"Well, all it does to me is making me feel off, why do you think it's great?"

 

"Well, watch!" Ratchet said before jumping into the air, pulling off a triple somersault before landing back on his feet. "Whoo!"

 

Kepler chuckled. "That explains it."

 

Soon enough, they spotted a door in a hill up ahead. As they approached, it opened up. They stepped into the airlock, and the doors closed behind them. With a loud hiss, air was pumped back in.

 

Oort lead the soldiers to a room in the back of the bunker before heading off to see the engineers on site. The room he had brought the soldiers to was quite large for the bunker's otherwise somewhat cramped interior of lunar rock. They sat down at a row of tables and took some food from the dispenser placed inside the room.

 

As everyone was enjoying their food, Oort came walking in. "Everyone, change of plans." he said, throwing a small metal pod at the wall. It latched onto the rock and displayed a holographical monitor which, in turn, showed the face of Captain Apogee. "What's the plan, Captain?"

 

"We've done several focused sweeps of the surface using Megacorp's latest telescope tech. Apparently one of Megacorp's projects is searching distant galaxies for advanced technological signatures but I digress - the main point is that we have discovered the exterior layout of various Cragmite outposts. As it turns out, they have a huge base of operations inside a volcano. It acts as a geothermal power plant and is the main source of energy for all planetside bases. The new plan is for the strike teams to head to this power plant and shut down the air defenses. There is already a ship with a bomb en-route to your position for the next step - demolition.

 

Talwyn took a step to the right, and maps of the outer facility were displayed to her left, showing a complex of various small buildings. "The plan is that, once the air defenses have been taken care of, strike teams will escort the explosive payload to the center of the facility. At this point the construction is at its weakest. Math proves that the payload has enough force to, assuming it is detonated at the heart of the facility, destroy the entire platform. Once the payload has been activated drop ships - which are also en-route - will arrive at the edge of the platform to pick up the strike team and get the crap out of there. Those Cragmites will learn the hard way not to play with fire."

 

Oort clapped his hands together. "Sounds great! How many air defenses are there?"

 

"Eight small cannons, four main ones and seven small turrets embedded in the volcano walls. Blow up all but the small turrets, read, turrets, those will have to be disabled remotely through hacks. Payload ETA is three hours, so hurry, general. There's not much time."

 

"You heard it, teams! Take a quick bathroom break if you need it then let's get the hell out of here." Oort said, clapping his hands together several times.

 

"Sir, yes sir!" several mouths replied in unison. Immediately, chaos followed as everyone made their way through the airlock and to the launch platform in record time, where several capsules were already prepared.

 

In groups of ten they entered the capsules, Ratchet ending up with Clank, Kepler, Luna, Tank, Rosetta, Centauri, Eridani and two of Sasha's personal Ranger units.

 

"Hold tight in there, guys. And for Orvus' sake come back in one piece." Oort said, saluting the soldiers before the nose cone was placed onto the rocket and the water was pumped in. Thankfully everyone already had their helmets sealed and where strapped in. Ratchet and Clank ended up facing each other, while Ratchet was back-to-back with Kepler. Kate was secured across from Kepler.

 

"Alright, Kep, can you hear me?" Oort's voice came through Kepler's helmet.

 

"Loud and clear, general."

 

"You're currently being moved to the launch platform. I'll let you know once you're in position."

 

"Roger, general."

 

A few minutes later Oort spoke again. "Alright, Kep, you're all set. Takeoff in T-10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

 

Kepler looked around in confusion, nothing was happening. "No action here, general."

 

Oort laughed back. "That means you're through the hardest part safely. Beginning radio silence, I'll let you know once you're about to hit Tamrak. Watchman out."

 

For a few minutes, there was complete silence. "Hey Ratchet." Kepler eventually spoke on a private channel. "Now that we've got two hours of time to kill, what happened on Igliak while I was out?"

 

"Oh, that's definitely a long story." Ratchet said. "Once Clank had gotten you out of the metal scrap..."


	13. Chapter 13: WIA

**AN: Chapter five has been edited, I suggest you read the edit before this chapter.**

* * *

 

_Earlier, when Kepler was wounded:_

 

"Man down, I repeat, man down!" Ratchet shouted over the comms as he and Rosetta charged over to the towering behemoth named Clank as said robot dug through the metal scrap that had once been a Cragmite mech. Clank tore through the debris with hands the size of small cars, showering the area behind him in metal parts. Finally Clank located Kepler. Kepler was unconscious, a trail of blood dripping from his mouth. Clank lay Kepler behind a pile of debris, Rosetta taking position by Kepler's side, preparing to defend his squad leader with his life.

 

"Rosetta, listen closely." Isa Amari said over the comms. "I'm almost out of ammo, but I still have a few Nanotech syringes ready. I want you to do exactly as I say."

 

"Copy that." Rosetta said, laying down his weapon while Clank charged at a nearby Cragmite mech crawling into view from below.

 

"I need you to carefully inspect the blade without pulling it out. Is it jagged?"

 

"Yes." Rosetta replied a few seconds later.

 

Amari cursed loudly. "Kepler is going to need a skilled surgeon otherwise pulling that damn blade out will kill him. Hold still."

 

Suddenly a dart zipped past Rosetta's helmet, making the young Lombax flinch. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the dart releasing a deep cyan liquid into Kepler's system. "I have only three more of those, let me know when his condition gets worse and I'll give him another boost." Amari radioed. "Also, duck!"

 

Rosetta hit the deck instantly, pulling Ratchet off his feet as well. A rocket shot over their heads. "Quick thinking." Ratchet said.

 

Glancing over their cover, Ratchet immediately pulled Rosetta's head down as two sniper rounds penetrated the air where their heads would have been a second later, had it not been for Ratchet's fast action. "We've got counter snipers!"

 

"Got 'em!" Alex Laniakea shouted over the comms, and Ratchet saw a Cragmite fall down the building. Alex quickly moved position while Amari gave the other sniper targeting Laniakea a mug full of lead.

 

Rosetta's eyes were focused on someone else however, in the distance he noticed Andromeda jump down from a building surrounding the plaza, activating her grappling hook mid-flight and building up more and more speed before swinging high into the air. She grabbed the battle rifle strapped to her back and pumped a few heavy rounds through the canopy of a mech climbing onto the platform, before securing her weapon again and firing the grapple at the barrel of the huge defense cannon and making her way to the other side of the plaza.

 

Then Rosetta realized something. Why were there so many mechs all of a sudden?

 

He watched in shock horror as twenty mechs clawed their way onto the platform. Clank was already battling one of them, but could only shrug off so much. If all of those mechs were to open fire, Clank wouldn't last long.

 

With a loud war cry Ratchet charged out of cover, a Warmonger forming in his hands as he instantly unloaded eight rockets on the nearest tank, before being forced to activate his hoverboots and make a run for it as the mech's gunner got to work.

 

"Wait, but if Andromeda and Laniakea are here..." Rosetta suddenly whispered over the voice comms in realization.

 

"You're damn right, Rosetta." Taylor shouted over the voice comms as the front of a building on the other side of the plaza suddenly got a large hole in it. Once the smoke cleared, Taylor and his team (minus Andromeda and Laniakea as they were more mobile and thus were already hard at work)

 

Talyor was holding his heavy firearm, the barrel already spinning up with an angry, metallic growl and getting ready to demolish anyone stupid enough to be staring down the gun barrel.

 

Alpha-7 hadn't been sleeping on the job either, and were locked in a full war with the surprising amount of Cragmite resistance. Ares threw a flashbang over his cover and quickly took out two stunned Cragmites with his hip-mounted smaller firearm.

 

Meanwhile Private 'Shadow' Cluster had sneaked behind the enemy lines. She silently drew her combat knife before quickly assassinating the two greatest threats she could see. The Cragmites quickly caught on to her presence and began to fire around wildly, but Cluster was prepared, hitting the deck and waiting for her comrades to take advantage of the situation, something that happened almost instantly as everyone opened fire. Webb let her assault rifle rest on the piece of debris she had been using as cover, Callisto grabbed a shotgun and worked on eliminating the closer threats, Ares grabbed a DX-58, corporal Sigma grabbed a grenade launcher, and private Tyson got to work with an SMG.

 

They tore through the enemies like a heated knife through butter, and immediately 'Shadow' used the moment to get back to work. For once, she revealed herself, a fully-automatic combat pistol already aimed at the nearest Cragmite's head.

 

In the middle of this organized chaos, the Cragmites stood no chance.

 

"Did we do it?" Webb asked her team, waiting for confirmation that the room they had fought in was the control room.

 

Corporal Sigma was already digging into the computer systems to find an answer, being a skilled hacker. "Affirmative." he replied a few seconds later.

 

"Well then, job done." Webb said, stretching her arms.

 

Then the building shuddered. "Ares, update?" Webb asked immediately.

 

Ares, who was staring at the radar, said something she never wanted to hear.

 

"According to the radar something huge just entered the facility."

 

Two seconds later a huge object came falling through the roof.

 

Standing on two reverse-joined legs was a Cragmite mech with two arms, the left one holding a rocket launcher and the right one having a minigun for a hand. Webb identified the mech's armor to be trillium, with an inner layer of raritanium.

 

"Take cover!" she roared, and instantly everyone hit the deck.

 

"This one's mine." Sigma said over the comms as he typed away on a keyboard in the back of the room. "Keep him distracted."

 

"You got it." Webb replied, grabbing one of the grenades she had clicked onto her belt and throwing it at the cockpit.

 

Shadow flickered back into existence on top of the mech, saluting Webb as Shadow tore off a metal part. Immediately the mech turned around, but by then Shadow was already far away and invisible again.

 

Alpha-7 scattered, each of them firing on the mech and keeping it on the move. Having only a single pilot, the mech couldn't track them all.

 

But that's when the tides turned. The pilot gritted his pointy teeth in frustration as he enabled a yet untested weapon.

 

He began to construct walls of energy, slowly pinning his enemies down. A grin formed on his reptilian features as a plan formed.

 

Soon enough, using his walls and weapons, he had his enemies pinned down.

 

"Any last words until I take yer furcoats as decoration and send y'all to hell?" he asked with a smug grin.

 

"Two!" Sigma said from behind the computer with an icy tone in his voice. The mech turned around.

 

"Think fast!" Sigma said. The sprinklers suddenly turned on.

 

With Shadow having torn off some plating, the mech's wiring had been exposed. The shield may have kept out ammunition, but water wasn't on the system's blacklist.

 

The mech sparked and stuttered before dying altogether. The pilot used an ejector seat and tried to make a run for it, only for an unseen force to grab the bandoleer on the Cragmite's armor and pull him back. Immediately Webb literally kicked his ass with as much power as she could. "Looks like you won't be sitting for a while." she said, pinning the Cragmite against the ground with her Praetorian Omniwrench.

 

"Sierra, Bravo, Watchman, Valkyrie - the command center is ours."

 

"Valkyrie?" Ratchet wondered out loud.

 

"Me." Talwyn said through the comms. "About time I got a codename too."

 

Ratchet chuckled. "And what's mine?" he asked on a private channel.

 

"Bolts-for-brains." Talwyn jokingly replied. "How's the situation down there?"

 

"Uuh, could be better." Ratchet said, rolling under an attack of the Cragmite mech trying to eliminate him, before grabbing a Cragmite shotgun off the ground. The bio-lock prevented him from firing, but the bayonet on the weapon proved more than capable of damaging some critical leg components. "Seems like they got mechs waiting. We're sweeping them now."

 

"Be careful down there, who knows what trick they got up their sleeve next." Talwyn said before disabling the private channel.

 

"Note for all forces outside," Webb continued, "We've just wrecked the big cousin of those mechs outside. Be ready for more."

 

"Gotcha." Tank radioed back as he punched through the cockpit of a disabled mech, grabbed the collar of the Cragmite inside and forced him against the glass with enough force to make it shower the area in glass particles.

 

Two of the larger mechs Webb mentioned came climbing onto view, clinging to the buildings surrounding the plaza. Everyone outside regrouped near the entrance to the defense cannon and got ready to defend it.

 

Taylor, Tank, 'Titan' and Luna quickly moved some debris to the entrance as cover before they all crouched down behind the chunks of titanium alloy.

 

"You know what? I think it's time we bring the minigun back, boys!" Taylor said with a chuckle, quickly setting up his minigun.

 

They opened fire as one. Private Rhea Parallax, who had taken position on top of the defense cannon's base, provided cover fire with her grenade launcher. Corporal Javier 'Titan' Cluster deployed a defensive barrier as their cover was shredded by the overwhelming enemy fire. Private Liam Rosetta, Corporal James Zwicky, Private Michelle Luna and Staff Sergeant Connor Centauri focused fire on the cockpit of the mech on the left, Zwicky tossing an EMP that wreaked havoc with the shields.

 

Meanwhile Lieutenant Mark 'Lawnmower' Taylor was focusing on the mech on the right with his minigun, assisted by Private Alex 'Hawk' Laniakea and Sergeant Isa 'Noscope' Amari from afar. Meanwhile Staff Sergeant Clarisse Andromeda was running on the sides of the buildings surrounding the plaza, constantly on the move with her grapple while providing cover-fire during jumps using a PDF-grade Negotiator she found. The warheads proved to be more than capable of creating an impressive fireworks display as she rained explosive justice on the mech on the right.

 

Soon enough the windshield of the mech on the right shattered under the sheer amount of firepower, the shielding systems having died out, and Taylor's minigun tore through the pilot like a heated knife through butter.

 

The mech on the left had better luck, using his wall-creating function to box in its prey.

 

But everyone seemed to have forgotten about Ratchet and Clank in the middle of this chaos, a mistake Clank used to his advantage as soon as he had destroyed another Cragmite mech gunning for him.

 

Ratchet sprinted to the Praetorians. "Hit the deck!" he yelled, and immediately everyone dropped to the floor.

 

Clank's eyes turned blood red as he began to charge up an ion blast, before sending an orb of pure energy at the mech that had been gunning for the Praetorians, with explosive results. The mech staggered back a few feet, its critical systems fried under the amount of energy surging through. Thus, the mech collapsed like a ragdoll two seconds later, trapping the pilot inside. He'd be picked up by the Defense Force later.

 

"Webb, status?!" Taylor barked.

 

"Just a little longer, Tay!"

 

That's when the greatest threat made its presence known.

 

Two of the buildings surrounding the plaza shattered, pushed aside as something huge clawed its way through.

 

The mech was gargantuan in size, twice as tall as Giant Clank. It stood on four huge legs, each ending in a large claw. Where the four legs met was a platform with a metal dome hanging underneath. The sheer amount of firearms attached to the dome gave a clear indication of the purpose of the device.

 

Clank took position in front of the defense cannon, spreading his arms to protect the weapon. Fortunately for him, the mech's pilot seemed more interested by the group of people standing in front of the gun.

 

Once the mech was fully on the platform of the defense cannon, the speaker systems revealed the identity of the pilot.

 

"So we finally meet in combat." Tachyon said over the speaker systems, not even trying to hide his glee.

 

"You mean, so we can finally roast your sorry ass in combat?" Taylor fired back.

 

"I shall wipe that grin off your face... by tearing your face off altogether, hahaha!" Tachyon said before the weapons attached to the underside of the mech opened fire.

 

The group of Lombaxes scattered, some activating their hoverboots to get around the mech.

 

Tank latched on to one of the legs with a loud war cry and began to climb his way up. Tachyon reacted by lifting the leg off the ground and trying to shake Tank off.

 

That's when Luna had an idea. The grabbed the leg opposite of the one Tank was holding on to and began to climb up as well.

 

Realizing what they were doing, 'Titan' also began to climb. Because Tachyon was still shaking Tank off, he would have to raise three legs in total to prevent any of them from reaching the cockpit.

 

A panel on top of the mech opened up, and a large, independently rotating dual-barreled rocket launcher slid into view, opening fire on Clank.

 

Clank reacted by taking aim using both of his wrist-mounted rocket launchers. Some quick number crunching revealed the exact trajectory of the missiles and, thanks to Aphelion partially taking over, Clank only had to focus on one missile while Aphelion targeted the other, controlling his left arm. Two missile launchers fired in unison, eliminating Tachyon's airborne attack.

 

Meanwhile Tank had reached the center of the mech, and held on for dear life until Luna and Titan had joined him. As one they pulled on the rocket launcher and, with their combined bulk plus the power of Luna's PM-8, tore the missile launcher off.

 

"Ladies first?" Tank asked.

 

Luna rolled her eyes and pushed Tank forward, sending him falling into the mech's cockpit.

 

They ran over to the seat behind the monitors, and with a loud war cry Tank kicked the seat in half.

 

"Got 'em!"

 

"Uuh... am I missin' something?" 'Titan' asked.

 

"Trap!" Luna yelled.

 

Tachyon's laugh echoed maniacally as the empty cockpit sealed itself. The view of the outside of the mech on the monitors was replaced by Tachyon's grinning face. "I really didn't think you'd be stupid enough to fall for that." he said, grinning evilly. "And as a little gift..."

 

Several panels embedded in the walls slid open to reveal explosive payloads. "Little do your friends outside know that, when they destroy the mech's outer plating, YOU THREE WILL BE BLOWN ALL OVER IGLIAK! HAHAHA!"

 

Tachyon was sent into a coughing fit, though quickly recovered. "Anyhow, I'll certainly be enjoying watching you three struggle." he said as he leaned back in his seat with an evil grin.

 

"Guys, don't attack!" Luna radioed. Silence followed. "Guys?"

 

"Don't bother, pitiful Lombax. Nobody can hear you." Tachyon mocked with an amused grin. "Shame really, how I'd love to see the look on their faces when they get to hear you three die."

 

Tank slammed his fist into a monitor, cracking the screen. Tachyon was sent into such a laughing fit that he fell off his seat.

 

"Asshole." Tank hissed. "There must be something we can do?"

 

Titan was already looking at the explosives. "I... I wasn't very good at chemistry."

 

Luna shoved him aside. "Let me look!"

 

She stayed silent for a few moments. Suddenly, the mech shuddered violently, knocking them off their feet.

 

"Such inferior minds." Tachyon mocked. "You do know that I can detonate everything remotely? Sure, this mech wasn't free, but this first-grade entertainment was more than worth it the price. I'm honestly surprised how amusing this is, I actually expected you three to give up. Were Lombaxes not, what was it again, noble?" he said, giving them a toothy grin.

 

"Guys, I think I have an idea." Luna whispered on a private channel. "Seal your helmets' audio channels and switch to private mode."

 

Seconds later her two companions joined her in a private channel.

 

"What's the plan?" Tank asked immediately.

 

"We cannot do anything with this mech, but we can do something about ourselves. Titan, if we can buff that shield of yours and find a way to wrap it around us-"

 

"It can do that by default, a spherical shape." Titan cut her off. "But how do you plan on boosting it's power?"

 

"If we can drain the power from the mech..."

 

"Brilliant!" Tank said before charging at the consoles and tearing them apart. Meanwhile Tachyon watched the panic with a raised eyebrow. What could they possibly be up to? He wondered.

 

He realized a bit too late. He quickly reached for the detonator, and a second later the mech exploded violently, sending the Lombaxes outside flying.

 

"Everyone okay?" Ratchet asked immediately.

 

"I could use a hand here." Taylor replied. A piece of shrapnel had drilled through his shoulder and pinned him against a piece of debris.

 

"Shit! Everyone, we need to defend Taylor!" Ratchet yelled.

 

Immediately everyone took position around their trapped comrade. Clank would have moved his hands in front of Taylor were it not for the two Cragmite mechs trying to attack the defense cannon from behind.

 

"Guys!" Rosetta cried out.

 

"What?" Ratchet asked.

 

"Three of our teammates were in that self-destructing mech."

 

Those words caused adrenaline to take it's leave, and were replaced by sorrow immediately.

 

"Watchman?" Ratchet radioed.

 

"Yes, what's going on down there?" Oort asked hastily.

 

"One teammate trapped, three teammates MIA, possibly KIA."

 

"Three... oh... oh, that's-"

 

"Still kicking, Watchman!" Luna yelled over the comms as they finally managed to dig their way out of the debris. "Damn metal was blocking the comms so I couldn't notify you all earlier. Titan's barrier saved us."

 

"Oh, thank the Zoni you're all okay." Oort replied with a sigh of relief. "Now, let's get this job done. What's the status on the defense cannon?"

 

"Nearly finished, Sir." Webb replied. Only one more minute."

 

"Guys, get out of there!" Talwyn suddenly shouted over the comms. "Cragmite 'demolisher'-class missiles incoming!"

 

"I have this under control." Clank said before charging off. "However, someone else will have to take care of the Cragmite mechanical enforcers."

 

"Gotcha, pal." Ratchet replied. "Half of you stay here, we-"

 

"May I propose a better idea?" 'Noscope' said over the comms. "I want the strongest people to grab the bar pinning Taylor, then pull it out."

 

Titan and Tank did as they were told. Immediately Noscope fired a nanotech dart at Taylor that, on contact, got to work on regenerating the Lieutenant's shoulder immediately.

 

"Thanks a bunch, Noscope." Taylor said as he grabbed his assault rifle. "Alright, let's blast these assholes off this planet once and for all."

 

They certainly weren't done yet. Tachyon's walking trap had only been the tip of the iceberg, as the four mechs on the platform were doing something strange. They watched in shock horror as they combined to form a monster of a machine. "Clank? We could really use your help right now!" Ratchet said over the comms as they took cover. Immediately the overload of weaponry on their enemy blanketed the area in plasma.

 

"What are they doing?" Rosetta wondered out loud.

 

"They're pinning us down with fire!" Taylor realized. "We gotta move!"

 

"Just keep that A-hole busy, we're almost in control!" Webb informed.

 

"Heads up, they're getting long-range reinforcements. Hawk, three o' clock." Amari informed as she spotted a small drop ship dropping off a few sniper reinforcements.

 

"Got 'em." Alex 'Hawk' Laniakea replied, harassing the enemy snipers with gunfire immediately.

 

"I'm going in." Andromeda said, swinging to the building.

 

"Be careful, you'll lose your head should they catch you off-guard."

 

"Wait, I'll help!" Rosetta said before storming out of cover, to the entrance of the building the snipers had chosen as their vantage point.

 

"Rosetta!" Luna yelled after him. "Damn it! Might as well help him with this ridiculous stunt."

 

"Got it." Titan said, walking out of cover with his barrier raised. Everyone took position behind him and opened fire. So did their foe however, and Titan gritted his teeth in annoyance as he saw the energy levels of his barrier decrease rapidly.

 

Meanwhile Rosetta had reached the top of the building, his agility allowing him to scale the staircase in mere minutes.

 

Andromeda was already fighting off the squad of snipers when Rosetta came charging through the window out onto the maintenance platform that the Cragmites had lowered themselves to. Grabbing his dual-wielded combat pistols mid-flight, he immediately unleashed a barrage of plasma that killed two opponents and left another wounded. Andromeda got out of cover and got a lucky headshot, while Rosetta tried to engage one of the two remaining enemies.

 

That was a mistake.

 

Rosetta had greatly underestimated the strength of his Cragmite attacker, and his weapons were effortlessly knocked out of his hands.

 

He quickly jumped out of the way of a sniper rifle's gun barrel, the bullet it was guiding hitting a building across the street.

 

Rosetta grabbed his Praetorian OmniWrench and engaged his enemy a second time, going for an overhead strike that the Cragmite countered by holding his rifle horizontally.

 

"Rosetta, watch out!"

 

Rosetta jumped aside just in time for Andromeda to zip past him, slamming the knife out of the hands of the other, wounded Cragmite soldier. It already had a bloodstain on it however, but Rosetta wouldn't feel it until much later.

 

They fought back-to-back as both Lombaxes were engaged in a fierce battle with their opponent. Suddenly however, Rosetta had an idea. He dove under the swing of his opponent's machete before spinning on his heels and ramming his wrench into the face of Andromeda's opponent. Andromeda capitalized by grabbing the Cragmite's arm and throwing him over her shoulder with a loud war cry.

 

Rosetta quickly leaned back, his opponent's weapon missing him by mere inches. His eyes widened as he realized his mistake. He had leaned too far back, and with a loud yelp, he fell over the railing.

 

Andromeda turned around instantly. "Rosetta!"

 

Rosetta had barely managed to grab the edge of the platform, and suddenly the ground below his feet seemed so distant.

 

The Cragmite grinned evilly. "Goodbye." he said before ramming his weapon into Rosetta's hand.

 

Rosetta roared in pain but held on regardless.

 

Suddenly, the Cragmite's smile faded as he was launched forward and over the railing, barely missing Rosetta on his way down. "Get a load of this!" Andromeda mumbled as she threw her Wrench over her shoulder and reached for Rosetta's hand.

 

The weapon had taken its toll however, and before Rosetta could grab her hand, he fell.

 

Andromeda immediately jumped after him, catching up to him quickly. "Hold on!" she yelled as she wrapped an arm around his waist and fired a grappling hook with her other harm.

 

"Trust me!" Rosetta yelled back over the wind. "The last thing I wanna do right now is letting go!"

 

Andromeda laughed. Not a quick chuckle, but a genuine laugh that warmed both their hearts. After weeks in which both of them had too much to worry about to laugh, even a smile did miracles.

 

"Let's finish this." Andromeda said, firing her grapple at the barrel of the cannon and swinging them directly at the huge mech battling their teammates. Rosetta grabbed Andromeda's weapon from her back and fired a few rounds directly through the windshield, scoring a hit in the face on the pilot.

 

The mech began to fall apart, Clank suddenly slamming into the ground next to it and throwing a punch at full force, sending it flying.

 

The mech was quick to recover however, but it was too late.

 

With a loud, mechanical whir the defense cannon began to move, taking aim and firing at the lowest power output, disintegrating the mech nonetheless.

 

Webb immediately forced the cannon to angle up and fired a signal of victory out into space, where Watchman and Valkyrie, or Oort and Talwyn, could see it.

 

* * *

 

 

"After that, we got picked up as the mission was over. With the defense cannon in our hands, no Cragmite warship would be able to get near the planet to drop reinforcements, and with elite Polaris Defense Force sentries being deployed to guard the area, there's not much they can do to reclaim it with low numbers."

 

"Damn! Seems like I missed quite the battle while I was out. Though I had this powerful dream while I was out." Kepler replied.

 

"Heads up, people! Tamrak ETA in one minute!" Watchman informed.

 

"Well, Kep, get ready to roll!" Ratchet said over the private channel.

 

"Hehe, don't you, if only for a second, believe that taking a knife to the chest gives you any hope of beating me down there." Kepler said with an amused grin.

 

"Challenge accepted." Ratchet said with a laugh.

 

Then the shell shattered, and they were sent barreling towards the surface of Tamrak far below.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Epicenter Part One

**AN: We have a discord server for the Second Great war now! JOIN THE ACTION:<https://discord.gg/BZqZxnn>**

 

They fell through the skies of Tamrak for a few terrifying seconds before a dot of red became visible through the clouds below, and they began to slow down.

 

The Cragmite base on Tamrak was enormous in its size. Titanium plated buildings glinted in the light of the exposed magma lake under it. Even from several miles above the crater, one would be able to make out the several large satellite dishes providing a reliable means of communication with other Cragmite equipment on the surface. If one were to venture closer, they would be able to admire the vast and complex network of pipes covering the complex that, from certain angles, made the rooftops look like metal spaghetti.

 

They landed on the edge of an extended platform, the liquid-cooling of the PM-7 and PM-8 armor-sets providing protection from extreme heat, while a similar, heat protection component had been installed into the Ranger bots providing backup.

 

Kepler witnessed Taylor's team land on a corner of the platform, as well as Webb's strike team on another corner. Finally, a Ranger strike team landed on another corner of the platform.

 

"Orbital surveys have provided a map of the outside ground," Talwyn radioed before uploading a few maps to the HUDs of the soldiers. "Good luck out there you guys."

 

"Got it, Valkyrie. Let's move, team," Kepler radioed before motioning for his team to follow.

 

They headed into the building complex, passing underneath a few pipes before reaching a small courtyard. They grouped up at one of the entrances to what appeared to be the control room of the facility, Kepler's team as well as Webb's taking position outside another entrance. The Ranger squad, Zulu 3-4, had taken position on the roof.

 

"Enter in three... two... one... now!" Taylor counted before kicking in the door, Webb and Kepler doing the same while Zulu 3-4 broke an entrance to the air vents.

 

"Seal your helmets lads, I've got a little surprise for them!" the Zulu 3-4 squad leader, Ranger commander 'ROBERTS' said over the comms before he and his team began to flood the air systems with a nasty chemical that should put most enemies inside to sleep upon leaking into the air.

 

Immediately a firefight started, as Kepler and his team walked right into two Cragmites that had been taking a break and quickly reached for their weapons upon spotting the squad.

 

Everyone charged into the command center at the same time, and thus the Cragmite forces were overrun in a matter of minutes, especially when the Cragmites had been pushed back to the center of the circular room and Zulu 3-4 fell on top of them from the air vents.

 

The chemical agent in the air had also worked miracles, as only the few Cragmites that had managed to acquire special equipment in such a limited window of time were still standing after just one minute, and five seconds later they had been dealt with as well.

 

"Webb, can we remotely disable the outside defense systems from here?" Kepler asked upon regrouping with his fellow squad leaders near the mainframe.

 

Webb shook her head. "We've tried breaking the encryption and figure out what we can do. That worked, but you don't want to know the answer. We're going to have to find a way to deal with those cannons embedded in the walls."

 

"Hmm... I might have an idea," Staff Sergeant Connor Centauri spoke up.

 

"What's your plan?" Taylor asked immediately.

 

"Valkyrie said we have twelve turrets to eliminate on the platform itself. Four main turrets, and eight small cannons."

 

"Yeah?"

 

"I propose the following: we all take down three items of the list while all keeping an eye out for the armory. There's got to be a place around here where they store ammo for those turrets."

 

"That's a great idea!" Taylor said. "If they got an EMP lying around here..."

 

"Exactly."

 

Kepler gave a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan. Let's get moving, that payload won't wait."

 

After Sierra-1 regrouped, they exited the command center. "Where to?" Kate asked. Kepler pointed towards the large cannon in the distance, rising above the rooftops of the buildings surrounding them.

 

They made a run for it, as the payload would be arriving shortly. They only had one hour, and part of it had already been eaten up by landing in the first place.

 

"Kate, time?" Kepler asked before signaling for everyone to hug the walls. A Cragmite vehicle raced past them, coming to a screeching halt when one of the Cragmites noticed the Lombax squad.

 

"Thirty-three minutes!" Kate yelled as the Cragmites opened fire.

 

"Dang it, we don't have time for this!" Kepler yelled back, taking cover behind some crates.

 

"You're damn right, Kep. Luna, mind giving me a hand?" Tank said from the crate he was taking cover behind. Luna quickly charged out of cover before sliding to Tank's position. "What's your plan?" she asked, taking his offered hand.

 

Tank pulled her back on her feet. "Let's throw this crate at them. According to the label it's explosive. The titanium layering will protect us, but not them. Besides, PM's."

 

"Gotcha," Luna replied. "Pull."

 

With some effort, they lifted the crate off the ground and over their heads.

 

“Hey guys!" Tank yelled. "How about some of this?!"

 

The explosion was surprising, and wiped the floor with the enemy squad. The Lombaxes were sent flying however. Kepler left an impressive dent in a wall before falling to the ground. He quickly got back up. "Everyone okay?"

 

He found Kate on the ground to his right. He hurried over to her, and helped her to her feet. "I'm okay, Kep. But I'll definitely feel that in the morning," Kate said with a groan, referring to the spark of pain she had felt in her back.

 

As Tank got up, he heard a voice coming from inside the container to his right. "Richard!"

 

He immediately lifted it off the ground, and Luna came rolling out. "How'd you end up there?" Tank asked, surprised.

 

"Bad luck," Luna mumbled as she removed a banana peel from her shoulder. "And if you dare to laugh we'll see who the strongest person on this team is," she growled.

 

Rosetta helped Centauri to his feet, and Ratchet came hoverbooting over to them while the two Ranger units dug themselves out of a pile of rubble.

 

"Okay, let's keep moving," Kepler said before they moved as one. They sprinted through the complex without encountering any more resistance, until they reached the cannon. "Sierra-1 at target Gamma," Kepler radioed.

 

"Copy that, Kep. Bravo-4 at target Delta," Taylor radioed back.

 

"Alpha-7 here, we've got some resistance, but we should be at target Beta soon," Webb said over the comms with gritted teeth in response as she rolled forward to avoid an enemy missile.

 

"Zulu squad reporting, we are now initiating the takedown sequence on target Alpha," ROBERTS radioed.

 

"Alright, Sierra, let's bring this thing down," Kepler said as he searched the walls for some kind of panel. "Find the power source of this turret, there should be a terminal around here."

 

"Found it," Ratchet said after a quick moment of searching, pointing at a metal plate supported by four bulkheads.

 

"Damn," Kepler said upon seeing how fortified it was. "How are we gonna get that thing open?"

 

"I may have an idea, but it will most definitely alert the enemy of our presence," Clank spoke up from Ratchet's back.

 

"We'll gladly dispatch of them," Tank said, speaking for everyone as he cracked his knuckles. "Work your magic, little bud."

 

Clank hopped off Ratchet's back and took position a safe distance from the wall before bringing out his geo-laser and starting to drill through the reinforced platinum alloy.

 

Meanwhile, over at 'target Alpha', things were going pretty smooth. The Ranger units had taken up defensive positions behind some cargo crates that they had hastily moved over to them, while ROBERTS himself was behind the defense cannon, hacking into the cannon's systems so he could take it down. To be able to start hacking without being thrown out immediately however, he had to disconnect the cannon from the facility's overseeing security system, which immediately caused a red alert. Within minutes their position was swarming with enemy troops.

 

Thanks to the adaptive nature of the Zulu model, the Rangers were able to come up with a counterattack to any situation the Cragmites put them into, some Rangers setting their weapon to burst mode to fire short bursts of plasma to punch through enemy defenses, while others had gone for a safer approach and showered the area in bombs of unstable plasma.

 

"How long, Sarge?" One of the Ranger bots asked.

 

"Forty percent," ROBERTS replied. "Just hold a little longer, boys!"

 

* * *

 

"So, they have come to try and gain the upper hand on us, hmm?" Tachyon calmly asked the trembling soldier that had come to inform him of the situation on Tamrak.

 

"Ye-yes, my emperor!" the soldier stammered.

 

Tachyon hummed in thought. "Perhaps it is time I introduce those rats to a specialist."

 

"What are your orders, your Majesty?"

 

"Send the in Luxtura project. If what I've been told is correct, it should be nearly complete."

 

"That is correct, my emperor. I will inform them right away!"

 

"Very well now, be on your way."

 

When the soldier was halfway down the hallway, Tachyon added something.

 

"Wait."

 

The soldier halted dead in his tracks and quickly turned his body back to the small Cragmite.

 

"I almost forgot to mention. Do not fail me," Tachyon said, an icy undertone present in his voice that chilled the soldier to the core. A sinister smile split his face. "You do not want to end up like the others that have failed me in the past… or perhaps you do. You would make such a lovely addition to my throne room..."

 

The Cragmite paled and saluted, a nauseous feeling in its gut as his eyes picked up the frozen statues of his former commanders, their frozen faces contorted in eternal agony. "Y-Yes sire! I shall not fail you."

 

* * *

 

"Keep it up, people! We're doing great!" Webb shouted over the gunfire as she continued her system hack on target Beta.

 

"You got it!" Peter Callisto yelled as he used his Concussive Pulse Rifle to temporarily deflect enemy fire as John Tyson threw a grenade.

 

Meanwhile Isa Amari had taken position on the rooftop of a nearby building. Taking a deep breath, she glanced through her scope and fired a round through the head of an unfortunate Cragmite soldier. A cry of pain from Will Sigma was answered with a Nanotech dart before she refocused on the bulky, minigun-wielding Cragmite taking position on a stack of crates. Although her rounds were not powerful enough to penetrate the Cragmite's full bomb suit, it was certainly enough to punch through his visor and take him out.

 

"Nice shooting, Amari!" Webb shouted, witnessing the shot over her shoulder. Then her eyes focused on something behind Amari. "Duck!"

 

Amari rolled back instantly, throwing her full weight into the Cragmite assassin before swiftly eliminating him with a punch to the jaw and a roundhouse kick that hit him right between the eyes.

 

Another assassin tried to have a go at her. Amari immediately ducked under the knife swung her way before grabbing the combat knife attached to the dead colleague of her opponent. She quickly spun on her heels and drove it into her opponent's leg, distracting him long enough for an uppercut, before eliminating him with his own knife. She quickly threw the Cragmite over her shoulder, unintentionally smacking him into the ground next to Webb, before taking potshots at a third enemy that was trying to reach her position.

 

"I'm gonna have to relocate, hang in there."

 

"Shield!" Sebastian Ares yelled as another strong Cragmite holding up a defensive barrier enforced on their position from a nearby building, a squad of rifle-wielding soldiers in tow.

 

Webb quickly reached down and snatched a grenade from the body of the dead soldier near her. She tore the pin out with her teeth before tossing it over her shoulder. "Ares!"

 

Ares caught it and threw it over the barrier just in time. The grenade detonated in mid air, showering the less armored soldiers in sharp particles and forcing the heavy soldier to retreat.

 

"Any help? This asshole knows what he's doing," Amari hissed over the comms. Her opponent had reached her position. She had been able to disarm him, and they were currently locked in hand-to-hand combat.

 

"Certainly," Callisto said, grabbing the combat pistol attached to his belt and firing a few rounds. Although they only did chip damage on the armor of the Cragmite fighting Amari, it distracted him enough for Amari to overwhelm him before sending him flying off the roof and off the large platform complex altogether with a forceful kick.

 

"Wanker," she mumbled as she picked up her rifle and got to relocating.

 

"Hey, is it just me, or..." Ares spoke up, noticing a few Cragmites in the distance that were falling back.

 

"No, it's too quiet. They're up to something," Tyson said.

 

Suddenly, Webb's left ear twitched. "What's that sound..." she mumbled.

 

"What?"

 

"Shut up, Callisto, and listen!" Webb silenced her teammate.

 

Suddenly, Anne Cluster appeared next to Webb. Webb didn't even flinch. "What's the prob?" she asked immediately. If Anne 'Shadow' Cluster exposed herself, then they had a big problem.

 

Anne pointed at the sky, and Webb looked up.

 

"Amari, hold position, and tell me what in the hell that is!"

 

Amari immediately grabbed her sniper rifle and took a look at the shimmering object in the sky.

 

"What in the name of or-."

 

"What?! What is it?!" Webb barked, not comfortable at all.

 

"I... I don't know, but it's manned - I can see the cockpit - and it's heading right for us."

 

"Visuals?"

 

"Heading your way." Amari said, streaming her vision to her teammates thanks to the ability of the PM-7 (or newer models) to do so.

 

"Looks like a metal ball with a green cockpit, what's that thing gonna do?" Ares asked.

 

"I don't want to find out," Tyson said. "How's the hack?"

 

"59%," Webb replied.

 

"Damn it!" Tyson cursed. "Seems like we'll find out what the hell is coming for us the hard way."

 

Webb nodded. "Attention all squad leaders - ROBERTS, Taylor, Kepler! Watchman and Valkyrie, you should listen to this too - there is an unidentified aircraft heading to our position."

 

"It's none of ours," Oort replied. "Payload is still traversing Tamrak's system."

 

"Then it's hostile," Talwyn said. "Be ready for anything."

 

When the hack reached 67%, the object entered the volcano. "Take cover!" Webb yelled as she ducked down.

 

The mysterious vehicle slammed into the ground with enough force to make the whole platform shudder.

 

For a brief, blissful moment, Webb believed everyone was okay… before she saw Callisto flying over her head.

 

If it were not for her fast reaction, Callisto would have been sent flying off the platform to a certain death in the molten rock far below.

 

"Hang on, you're not dying today!" Webb said with gritted teeth as she pulled him back up onto the platform.

 

"Guys?" Ares said, his voice strained and trailing off. Webb did not like the tone of his voice one bit.

 

Once she had helped Callisto back on his feet, she glanced over her shoulder, just in time to see their colossal opponent unfold its limbs from its earlier, spherical shape. Three large, mechanical clawed feet supported a bulky frame with the cockpit centered. It seemed to have two arms and a long, mechanical tail that ended in a laser cannon. The two hands were both holding a combat pistol the size of Webb's entire body, and the Cragmite pilot sitting in the safety of the reinforced glass smiled as he got to work at aiming said weapons at the squad of Lombaxes.

 

"Fucking hell, what is that thing?!" Webb cried out as they scattered, a torrent of plasma blasts surging through the space they had been occupying earlier.

 

"I can't hack the panel like this, guys!" Webb said on a closed channel. "Find a way to distract that damn thing."

 

"Got it!" Ares yelled as he took a plasma grenade from his belt before throwing it at the cockpit.

 

Score.

 

A cobweb-like network of cracks formed on the reinforced glass… or so they thought, as it turned out to be a protective barrier, running over the metal surface of the mech like a second skin. It did, however, blind the Cragmite pilot, if only temporarily, as a thick, orange blob of plasma stuck to the barrier protecting the glass for a few valuable seconds.

 

Webb used the time immediately to hide behind the turret, while the rest of her team took cover behind the safety of the crates scattered across the abandoned loading dock.

 

Webb could see Ares hidden behind a large steel cargo container stacked against the building Amari was using as a vantage point. She quickly signaled him to stay quiet, and pass on the message to other teammates if possible. He nodded in confirmation.

 

It did not take long for their enemy to wipe the plasma off the cockpit, but to the Cragmite's surprise he found the loading dock to be devoid of Lombax soldiers.

 

A few seconds of looking back and forth gave him a rising suspicion that something was amiss. The Lombaxes were here for the turret, then why abandon it like that while it was still active?

 

He gave the crates a toothy grin as he activated the thermal scanners. "Hide and seek it is then, Lombaxes," he mumbled as a greenish grid-like holographic pattern was projected onto the cockpit windows, and immediately he began searching for hot spots that could identify the location of his enemies. Unfortunately, the plasma had heated up the skin of his mech enough for the mech itself to interfere with the scanners, so for the first few long minutes the scanners had little to no effect.

 

Then he began picking up hot and cold spots at long last but, to the pilot's frustration, none of them seemed organic - like a handprint or a footstep.

 

Meanwhile, unknown to him, the members of Alpha-7 were reloading their weapons as silently as they could, preparing for a single, massive attack.

 

They knew that the chances of them being able to overload the shields, let alone destroy the mech were slim, therefore their plan of attack was distracting the pilot long enough for Webb to finish her hack.

 

Each of them carefully kept an eye on the clock in the bottom-left corner, as they had agreed on a specific time, accurate to the second, to attack.

 

As soon as the clock hit that time, they jumped into action.

 

"You're not gonna find us over there, you over-glorified ant!" Amari yelled from behind. Instantly the mech's torso rotated around to identify the source of the yell. Spotting the Lombax soldier on a nearby rooftop, the Cragmite pilot opened fire as he began closing the distance.

 

Amari dove behind a cooling tank while Sigma and Callisto got to work, each throwing a grenade at the mech's cockpit.

 

That proved as effective as last time, even though the Cragmite was quicker to shrug it off. Sigma quickly boosted Callisto up and Callisto, grabbing the edge of the roof, wasted no time in pulling himself up to get to Amari's position.

 

He quickly rolled forward to avoid being blown to bits before sliding under one of the cooling tanks and rolling out from underneath on the other side, where Amari quickly pulled him up on his feet.

 

Meanwhile Sigma had received backup in the form of Tyson and Webb herself, who occasionally fired a shot over her shoulder when she had time, intentionally missing the mech but hitting the maze of pipes and tanks around the mech to further mess with the pilot.

 

"C'mon, c'mon... " she hissed as she waited impatiently for the turret to finally come down.

 

To make matters worse, Tyson, who had to roll behind a crate to avoid a lethal hit, asked for the progress.

 

"I'm working on it, damn it!" Webb yelled out of frustration as she rammed her fist into the base of the turret. "Die, you stupid thing!"

 

"Webb, what the hell is going on there?" Kepler said through gritted teeth as he kicked a Cragmite soldier in the face, and Webb realized she had accidentally swapped to open channel.

 

"We've got a heavy one here, lads," she immediately informed her allies. "Triple-legged and heavily armored Cragmite mech with a trigger-happy pilot, and a personal shield on top."

 

"Position?" Taylor asked as he ducked to avoid a blast of enemy fire.

 

Webb resisted the urge to make a sarcastic comment, though she never got to answer regardless.

 

"On the run, heading to the platform center," Ares said, as indeed, to the surprise of Alpha-7, the pilot had suddenly turned around and began to head to the center of the platform, the three legs making a harsh, metallic impact sound whenever they made contact with the Titanium floor.

 

"Soooo… what now?" Kepler asked. "Chase? Ignore?"

 

"Destroying their equipment is not your objective. Focus on the turrets," Watchman radioed. "Speaking of which, status update."

 

"Target eliminated, Sir," Webb replied.

 

"Give me three more minutes, Watchman," Taylor replied, the sounds of gunfire in the background. "These bastards really don't like us."

 

"We're almost done too," Kepler said, knocking out an opponent by slamming the back of his weapon into their face. "Two minutes at max. Things have evolved into an all-out brawl here, but we should have everything cleaned up soon."

 

"Everything fine over here, Sir," ROBERTS replied. "Cragmite resistance is present as expected, but not capable of even hindering our progress one bit."

 

"Hey, Tal?" Ratchet radioed as he backflipped of a wall, landing behind a Cragmite soldier before bringing his wrench down on the confused enemy's head.

 

"Yes?"

 

"Could you please get me a RYNO?" Ratchet tiredly asked.

 

"Are things that messy down there?"

 

"No, but it'd make things one hell of a lot easier at least. These guys just don't know when to quit!"

 

Ratchet heard a laugh on the other end of the radio, and immediately he felt fatigue leave his body. A small smile formed on his face as he charged into the fray, weapon in hand. "Thanks, Tal," he mumbled to himself.

 

"Alpha-7 reporting, we are splitting up to take down the smaller cannons," Webb said, before switching to a channel exclusive to Alpha-7 members to not clutter up the voice comms of the other teams. "Alright, Callisto, Amari, you're with me. The rest move to subtarget Beta-2. That includes you, Shadow, wherever the hell you are right now."

 

After saluting to each other, the two small groups split up, running off in different directions. Ares, Sigma, and Tyson took the rooftop-route to a cannon built near a large refinery, while Amari broke the lock on the entrance to a warehouse. As soon as the door opened, Webb and Callisto entered while Amari jumped aside.

 

Not a single creature in sight.

 

Unhindered for once, they pressed on, deeper into the large Cragmite facility.

 

Meanwhile the weather was getting rougher by the second for team Bravo-4, as more and more enemies appeared. "How many of these fools are there even on this platform?" Parallax said to herself as she threw a flashbang into the fray, buying Andromeda a few valuable seconds.

 

While the cannon Alpha-7 had been tasked with was built at the edge of a large loading dock that was quite in the middle of nowhere when it came to the amount of Cragmites in the area, Bravo-4 was less lucky, as their target overlooked the main hangar of the facility, and thus as soon as they had landed, what could be described as a sea of enemies had come charging out of the several nearby buildings, weapons in hand. So much in fact that Taylor thanked the heavens for the fact that he had not forgotten his trusty minigun, and that his teammate Javier Cluster had that barrier of his to ward off most of the incoming fire for the first few minutes.

 

"Guys? We could really use a hand here at this point." Taylor radioed as he spied a Cragmite drop ship land in the hangar in the distance.

 

"Gotcha. I'm sending those two Zulu 3-4 Rangers over to your position, as well as Staff Sergeant Cen-" Kepler began.

 

"I'll go," Rosetta said immediately.

 

Kepler stared at him for a few seconds, a little surprised by the sudden interruption. "Okay then. Two Zulu 3-4 Rangers plus Private Rosetta heading over to your position. The rest of Sierra-1 - as soon as this thing comes down, we split up. Ratchet, Clank, Eridani and Luna head to Gamma-1, the rest is with me."

 

Ratchet reloaded his weapon with a loud click as he slammed a fresh clip home. "Let's finish this."

 

Kepler got his own weapon ready, a cocky grin on his face. "Race you guys to the targets, what do you say?"

 

"You're on!" Ratchet exclaimed with a cocky grin of his own, Clank giggling his signature laugh on the Lombax's back.

 

Suddenly however, Kepler spoke to him on a private channel. "Ratchet?"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"...Look after Kate for me, please?"

 

The yellow Lombax smiled. "Don't worry, Kep. I'll keep her safe." He couldn't help but feel a pang of painful deja vu of a time where he promised the same thing only to fail his promise.

 

It only lasted a moment before Ratchet pushed the pain away. This time was different, and he would not fail on his promise this time.

 

"Thank you, Ratchet," Kepler said, more serious than Ratchet had ever heard him, before running off, Tank, Zwicky and Centauri in pursuit.

 

"Well, we better get going, hm?" Ratchet said over his shoulder to Clank.

 

"Indeed we should, unless you plan on losing to Kepler," Clank said with a chuckle before seriousness returned. "Though we should make haste. We only have approximately fifteen minutes left before the payload arrives."

 

"Yeah, that's not good," Ratchet mumbled.

 

"Hey Ratchet, you coming?" Kate yelled, waking said Lombax from his thoughts, and he saw that everyone was already on their way. Ratchet activated his hoverboots and charged after them, silently praying that they would make it in time.


	15. Chapter fifteen: Epicenter part 2

_ Epicenter, Part 2 _

 

Andromeda quickly took cover behind a vehicle, one that had definitely seen better days if the scorch marks and bullet holes were anything to go by, while reloading her weapons. Her team members had also taken cover, ‘Titan’ Cluster recharging his barrier while Taylor reloaded his minigun.

 

Alex ‘Hawk’ Laniakea was nowhere to be found - which was a relatively good thing, since he was a sniper. Rhea Parallax was sitting next to Andromeda, breathing heavily as the built-in Nanotech systems of the PM-7 removed three bullets from her system.

 

“You okay?” she asked her recovering teammate, who replied with a nod.

 

She glanced around cover, but was forced to retreat immediately as refocused enemy fire got eerily close to her head.

 

“ _ Rosetta… please hurry… _ ” she thought, looking at her weapon as she tightened her grip on it.

 

“Hey assholes!” a familiar voice echoed through the hangar, making enemy fire vanish as the Cragmites tried to find the source.

 

Rosetta came in with a bang.

 

On his way to the pinned Lombax strike team, he and the two Zulu 3-4 Rangers had come across a group of Cragmites piloting a Cragmite hovertank.

 

Or rather, they should have been piloting it. Instead they had been leaning against the hovertank, having lunch and not paying attention. The surprised looks on their faces, when the tank had suddenly started up, and the two Rangers steered the tank while Rosetta’s head poked out on top of the turret, had been priceless. “Hasta la vista, losers!” he yelled over his shoulder as the Zulu-model Rangers’ adaptive nature allowed them to steer the tank like it had been their full-time job for decades.

 

As the Ranger bots steered the tank through the complex, Rosetta took a moment to admire the tank’s design. Though he’d pick Elder Pin’s style of metal and glowing green any day, the Cragmite’s style of crimson and Titanium grey definitely had its charms. The crimson paint was symmetrical, and reminded him of the images he had been shown regarding Tachyon, it resembled the Cragmite emperor’s crown to some degree. The tank sported a streamlined chassis, with a slim turret mounted on top, and while the gunbarrel was surprisingly narrow for such a large vehicle, Rosetta had no doubts about the destructive force it could provide.

  
  
  


Soon enough they reached the hangar, and Rosetta was forced to postpone his daydreaming about advanced technology and overpowered weaponry. Taking control of the turret, he took aim at the Titanium wall and sent several rounds on their way.

 

The pyrocidic charges that the turret had been loaded with did their job perfectly, melting through the solid metal like a heated knife through butter, and leaving a gaping, smoking hole for the Rangers to pilot the tank through.

 

“Way to make a badass entry,” Rosetta chuckled to himself.

 

Hundreds of weapons were suddenly aimed at the vehicle, just as Rosetta had hoped.

 

Taylor immediately used the distraction to continue the takedown sequence on the cannon.

 

The two Ranger units made the tank charge forth, ramming into the crowd of Cragmites, scoring a few easy kills while Rosetta rained pyrocidic charges on them. They provided enough mayhem for members of Bravo-4 to go back on the offense. Andromeda stormed back into the fray, rolling behind a broken Cragmite drop ship and using it as cover as she unloaded her weaponry. Titan stayed on the defense, quickly grouping up with Parallax, who quickly took cover behind his barrier. Titan made sure to cover both Taylor and Parallax, though he kept an eye on the shield’s power gauge. Now that all of the attention was focused on the tank, there were only a few Cragmites focused on the strike team, which meant that Titan had little to worry about, but if the full army in front of them decided to attack him, his barrier wouldn’t last long.

 

The tank wasn’t doing too great either. Despite being heavily armored and having enough power to demolish an armored vehicle, it wasn’t invincible, and the armor was being chipped away by enemy fire at an alarming rate.

 

“Guys?” Rosetta said to the two Ranger bots. “We can’t hold them up for much longer like this.”

 

“Do not worry, we have a plan,” one of the Ranger robots replied. Suddenly, Rosetta was launched out of the turret by an ejector seat. Adrenaline kicking in, he instantly reached for his combat pistols and rained plasma on the Cragmites focusing him.

 

Andromeda saw it happen, and moved immediately, climbing onto the drop ship before climbing on top of a large stack of containers. She then jumped down, activating her grappling hook to convert horizontal velocity into vertical velocity. Retracting the grapple at the right moment, she flew over the heads of the surprised Cragmite soldiers, quickly dropping a few fusion grenades in the process, before reactivating her grapple and grabbing Rosetta mid-flight, so that he would not land surrounded by enemies.

 

The Ranger units steered the tank to the back of the hangar, where a large fuel depot was located for refueling purposes, a majority of the Cragmite soldiers following it.

 

It was an enormous mistake on the Cragmites’ part.

 

The tank slammed into the fuel depot at full force, triggering an explosion powerful enough to shred the hangar.

 

It snapped the cable of Andromeda’s grappling hook, and they would have been burnt to a crisp were it not for the PM-7’s advanced cooling systems.

 

The explosion sent the two flying to the edge of the platform. They held each other tightly as they slammed into the ground, before rolling off the edge.

 

“Hah!”

 

Were it not for the fast actions of Bravo-4, both would have been lost. Taylor grabbed Rosetta’s tail, while Titan held onto Taylor’s legs to prevent the extra weight from pulling his squad leader over the edge as well.

 

“What the hell happened there?!” Taylor exclaimed as Titan pulled them back up.

 

“The Ranger units… they blew themselves up to save us.”

 

Everyone was silent for a moment as they took in the realization. “True heroes, they were,” Taylor said grimly, staring at the charred remains of the tank. 

 

Titan nodded solemnly, and gave a quick salute to honor his fallen comrades. “They will not be forgotten.”

 

Suddenly, Kepler radioed in, his voice crackling out over the comms. “Tay, how are things over there? We need to hurry up and get those cannons down.”

 

“Just finished, Kep, but we… we just lost two members of Zulu 3-4. We’re off to kill the rest of the cannons no-”

 

“Already got one, mate,” Hawk radioed in. He swiftly reloaded his sniper rifle before emptying the clip on a few exposed rotors, causing the targeted turret to lose its tracking capabilities and become useless.

 

“Great work, Hawk!” Taylor radioed. “Now onto the next one.”

 

“Sir,” Rosetta began, raising a hand, “if I may, how about Andromeda and I find that last turret? Then you and the rest of your team can set up where the payload lands to prevent hostiles from damaging it.”

 

“You can do that?” Taylor asked. “You only got-” his eye flicked to the time display in his visor “-seven minutes!”

 

“I’m the fastest runner and I love parkour,” Rosetta replied.

 

“And I’ll have my grapple back in ten seconds,” Andromeda said, watching the built-in nanotech systems of her armor rebuild her grapple.

 

Taylor nodded. “Alright then, I’ll leave it to you two.” He waved his hand and motioned to the rest of his team. “Hawk, Parallax, Cluster, follow me!” 

 

The Lombaxes nodded and followed as Taylor led them off to the payload site.

 

“Ready?” Rosetta asked, grouping up with Andromeda.

 

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied.

 

“Good, ‘cause I’ll race ya to it!” Rosetta bellowed over his shoulder, a mad smile decorating his face, as he ran off towards the hole he had blasted into the wall of the hangar. Andromeda tore after him, hot on his tail.

 

Rosetta quickly darted up a stack of crates before using the network of pipes built onto the wall as footholds as he made his way onto the roof. Andromeda joined him a moment later, using her grapple to reach the network of pipes. Rosetta reached the roof first, offering Andromeda a hand, which she gladly took. After pulling her up, they quickly noticed the cannons. The one Hawk had eliminated sat on top of a large tank behind the hangar, while their current target was hidden behind a communications tower.

 

Rosetta tore towards it, occasionally grabbing an overhead pipe and using it to swing himself forward, sometimes even using them to go from building to building, while Andromeda used her grapple to propel herself to the tower.

 

They reached the cannon in the nick of time. Rosetta wasted no time in ripping the cables to the cannon out while Andromeda fried the rotors.

 

“It won’t be enough!” he yelled out to Andromeda as the cannon took aim at the payload, which was about to enter the crater.

 

“I got a plan, grab my hand!” Andromeda yelled back, extending her arm out to the other Lombax. Rosetta took her hand immediately, and Andromeda grappled onto the tower a second time. They hurtled off the building together before releasing the hook mid-flight. They held each other tightly as they slammed into the barrel of the cannon with all their might, eliminating its aim and rendering it useless.

 

There was but one problem. The cannons built into the crater walls were still on.

 

\---LINE HERE---

 

“Anyone got eyes on the ammo depot?” Kate asked as they made their way to Gamma-1.

 

“Nope. No sign of it,” Ratchet replied, a frustrated tone starting to seep into his voice.

 

Kate sighed as her eyes darted around the base. “This won’t do, we have to find that armory.”

 

“Clank, any ideas?” Ratchet asked, turning his head to look at the little robot.

 

To his surprise, Aphelion answered instead. “Perhaps we could use the Robo-Wings to scout the area from above? As far as I am aware, we should be too small for any of the defense systems to target us.”

 

Ratchet bit his lip. “I dunno… It has been a long while since we used them...”

 

“Ratchet, it may be our only chance of finding the armory in time,” Clank added as his optics returned to their normal green.

 

“Alright then,” Ratchet said before looking to the others. “Guys?”

 

Kate chuckled. “Besides you and Clank there are only women here.”

 

“Girls then,” Ratchet replied with a roll of his eyes. “Clank and I are going to scout the area from above, you two head to Gamma-1.”

 

“Copy that,” Kate confirmed, while Luna nodded.

 

Ratchet took a breath and hurled himself off the roof they had been running across, diving off the platform entirely. The Robo-Wings deployed mid-flight, and immediately the hot air from the exposed magma caused them to rise several meters, lifting them up far above the platform. Ratchet tilted down and dove closer to the ground before beginning his search.

 

He flew around in large circles, his eyes scanning every inch he could see from above. Building after building crossed his line of sight, yet to his frustration, no building had any clear indication of being the armory.

 

Fortunately, Kepler’s team had more luck. “Hey, Kate! We’ve got eyes on the armory! Luna, group up with us, we’re going to need some extra bulk,” Kepler radioed.

 

“Copy that, sir. Heading to your position now,” Luna replied.

 

“That leaves only us three,” Ratchet remarked as he swooped down and landed next to Kate.

 

“Wait… those wings you got there… what’s the maximum weight they can carry?” Kate asked, slowly drawing her fingers across the robo-wings’ strange engraved patterns.

 

“I am sorry, miss, but the wings were designed to carry just Ratchet, not two people at once,” Clank replied, getting where Kate was going. “I doubt the safety of your plan.”

 

Suddenly, Clank’s left eye changed color, indicating that Aphelion had taken partial control. “I respectfully disagree. I have analyzed the data provided by the robo-wings’ software. Calculating the drag in several situations, plus the temperature of the surrounding area, leads me to the conclusion that, if we were to dive off the platform, the hot air will make us rise and give us an added boost. We indeed will not be able to stay airborne, however we should be able to glide to Gamma-1.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” Kate said, nodding to Clank/Aphelion. “How should we fly?”

 

“My calculations suggest that the optimal position would be on Ratchet’s back, over Clank. Just make sure to not obstruct the wings,” Aphelion informed.

 

Clank’s eye returned to its normal, brilliant green hue. “Thank you, Aphelion. Your assistance has been invaluable,” Clank said while Kate, with Ratchet’s help, climbed onto his back.

 

Ratchet shuddered as he walked over to the edge of the building, staring at the lava far below. “Off the platform, she said?”

 

“Off the platform,” Kate grimly replied. “I’m as much a fan of the idea of gliding over a lake of molten rock as you are, but it may be the only shot we have.”

 

Ratchet took a deep breath. “Well, here goes.” 

 

Ratchet steeled his nerves, made sure Kate wouldn’t fall off his back, and dove headfirst off the platform.

 

\---LINE HERE---

 

“You sure about this?”

 

Tank nodded, fire in his eyes. “For the Lombaxes!” he bellowed as Luna threw him at full force, right through the wall of the armory. Once the dust had settled, they charged in and within seconds they located the EMP's.

 

“Blow it, now!” Kepler yelled, and three seconds later a powerful electromagnetic pulse came from the armory, frying all electronics in the vicinity except the Ranger robots, with their adaptive nature, and Clank, who managed to shrug off the pulse of energy thanks to his Zoni side.

 

It did make him giggle however. “That tickled,” Clank chuckled, amused.

 

“It seems our allies have succeeded in destroying the enemy armory,” Aphelion spoke up.

 

“Then we better hurry,” Ratchet said.

 

“Shit!” Kate yelled. “Look!”

 

Far above them, a platform could be seen, lowering itself into the crater.

 

Defense Cannon Gamma-1, however, had already locked on. Kate, with a loud cry of fury, grabbed her weapon and opened fire on the cannon.

 

Gamma-1 went up in flames, but not before it sent a single rocket at the platform.

 

“No, no, no, no, no!” Kepler yelled, seeing it happen.

 

The rocket hit, and the platform, now entering the crater, was hidden from view by a dense, black cloud.

 

When the smoke began to clear however, all were surprised to see that no damage had been dealt to the platform.

 

Squinting, Ratchet made out the bomb through the smoke.

 

But then he saw something else. A figure quickly hid themselves behind the bomb. All Ratchet saw was a head disappearing behind the payload.

 

“What?” he said in confusion, eyes searching for another glimpse of the figure.

 

“What is it?” Kate asked.

 

“I think I saw someone hiding themselves behind the bomb.”

 

“You must be mistaken,” Kate reassured him. “That thing came from outer space. There’s nobody on it.”

 

“You must be right, though I could’ve sworn I saw something…”

 

“Pattern recognition is a primal Lombax instinct. You must’ve seen a pattern in the smoke, and mistook it for a person,” Kate theorized.

 

Meanwhile the platform slowly descended further into the crater, coming to a halt on the edge of the platform, where the combined forces of Alpha-7 and Zulu 3-4 were defending the landing site of the payload from Cragmite forces.

 

“Hang on, this landing’s gonna be rough…” Ratchet said, swooping down from above, at the payload.

 

When he flew over the bomb, he was shocked to see that there was indeed nobody on it.

 

He had failed to notice the glistening metal out of the corner of his eye.

 

While Ratchet adjusted his flight to semi-horizontal, Kate suddenly jumped off, landing on top of a Cragmite soldier. “Death from above!” she yelled, swiftly eliminating the enemy trooper before moving on to its equally surprised comrades.

 

Ratchet was so intrigued by the fight however, that he failed to notice the building in front of him until it was far too late.

 

The air was knocked out of his lungs when he collided with the building at full force. He comically slid off the wall, before landing on top of a Cragmite.

 

Kepler quickly eliminated said Cragmite before it had the chance to deal a fatal blow with their melee weapon. “You okay?” he asked, helping Ratchet up.

 

“Yeah, I just gotta pay more attention,” Ratchet said, shaking his head.

 

While the last Cragmites were eliminated, the Ranger units took position along the payload route, while Amari, Laniakea and Shadow made quick work of any Cragmite snipers.

 

Then, the next phase of the mission began.

 

The crate secured on top of the platform opened up, revealing a hovering cart with a powerful bomb attached to it. This bomb was held in place by a Titanium framework that was secured to the cart itself by a series of sturdy, large bulkheads.

 

Everyone waited for a few awkward moments while the payload did very little. “Hate to be  _ that  _ guy, but why isn't it moving?” Rosetta asked.

 

“Damn it,” Taylor said. “Watchman, the payload has a technical flaw. It won't move on it's own.”

 

“Find a way around it Tay, Solana is counting on you guys,” Oort radioed back, trying to stay calm.

 

“Guys!” Webb said, getting everyone's attention. “Just  _ push _ the damn thing!”

 

A few seconds later Tank, Luna, Titan and Webb were slowly pushing the payload out, while Taylor had taken up a defensive position on top with his minigun. Ratchet and Kate covered the front, while the rest defended from flankers.

 

One such flanking squad of Cragmites was swiftly eliminated only a few minutes after start. “Get yer ass out of my face, ya wanker!” Webb spat into the face of a Cragmite that had gone up close and personal, before kicking him back a few feet. The Cragmite was eliminated by Centauri a second later.

 

“We got 'em, guys!” Rosetta cheered.

 

Just as he said that, the arch of pipes up ahead was shattered by a massive explosion, raining debris all over their intended path. “Guys, stop the damn thing!” Luna cried out, and immediately Ratchet and Kate turned around and tried to stop the payload before it would hover into the danger zone.

 

Kate slipped however, and immediately one of the payload's powerful thrusters began to inch closer to her face at an alarming rate.

 

Kepler acted instantly, launching himself off the wall behind him, before rolling under the payload, grabbing Kate, and emerging on the other side just in time, mostly thanks to Ratchet's fast action.

 

Ratchet had pressed his hands against the payload, before activating his hoverboots while Clank provided as much force as he could with the thruster pack.

 

“Everyone okay?” Ratchet asked.

 

“Yeah!” Kate said, getting up before pulling Kepler back on his feet.

 

“What the bloody hell shot at us though?” Tank asked.

 

“We have a problem,” Hawk radioed. “Check your six.”

 

Turning around, everyone's blood froze.

 

\---LINE HERE---

 

“Praetorians? Tell me what is going on down there!” Oort barked as soon as he had heard the explosion. He was sitting in a monitor room inside the hastily built lunar base, directly communicating with the planetside soldiers while patching Talwyn through as much as the relay network would let him.

 

Static.

 

“Praetorians?! Kepler?! Taylor?! Webb?! ROBERTS?! _Anyone_?! Answer me!” he shouted, getting more and more freaked out by the second.

 

Still nothing.

 

“Apogee, come in!” Oort yelled, moving to the Polaris comms.

 

“Captain Apogee here, what is going on?” Talwyn radioed.

 

“That's the question,” Oort said. “There was an explosion and then static. I'm trying to get a hold of our men and women, but nothing so far.”

 

Talwyn sunk into her seat, her heart immediately freezing.

 

Then, suddenly, Oort got a message.

 

Not a good one.

 

“The hell do you mean Pin?!”

 

“Stolen, Sir! S-T-O-L-E-N, y'hear?”

 

“How?! When?! Give me details man!” Oort barked.

 

“I was just working on Ratchet's PM-7 armor set before something hit me from behind, next thing I know, the armor is gone!”

 

It took  quite a lot of willpower for Oort to not scream into the comms out of frustration at this point.

 

“Pin. For the love of all that is holy tell me that that armor has a bio-lock.”

 

“Affirmative, sir. Only a Lombax can use it.”

 

“What about deconstructing it to uncover its secrets?”

 

Pin laughed. “Yo, I have to deal with engineering wannabes that don’t know what copyright is all the time, nobody but me can take that armor apart.”

 

Oort hummed in thought. “Then who the hell did this?”

 

He shifted channels. “Captain Apogee, report.”

 

“Apogee reporting in,” Talwyn said immediately. “What's the latest?”

 

“Can you help me solve a paradox?”

 

* * *

 

 

“Scatter!” Rosetta shouted.

 

“No, the payload! Get behind my barrier!” Titan yelled, immediately raising his shield.

 

Everyone immediately took cover behind Titan's barrier while, ahead of them, the metal colossus that was Luxtura readied itself. Its appearance had changed drastically since the time Alpha-7 had fought it - all damage they had inflicted was gone.

 

Furthermore, Luxtura’s plating seemed to have doubled.

 

“I got this, guys!” Ares said, grabbing another plasma grenade and tossing it at the cockpit of the towering machine.

 

To his surprise however, it bounced back as if the grenade was made of soft plastic.

 

The pilot of Luxtura laughed. “That won’t work again, filthy rats!”

 

“Damn it,” Ares said over the comms. “Everyone switch to comms only, we need a new plan.”

 

“What do we know?” Kepler asked.

 

“We’re dealing with a bulky piece of Cragmite tech. It has a barrier capable of taking a ton of punishment, and dense armor on top,” Webb said, reloading her weaponry.

 

“I may have an idea,” Tank said.

 

“Shoot,” Ares said.

 

“If we all focus fire on the cockpit, we may be able to overload the shielding.”

 

“Better do it fast though,” Titan said through gritted teeth, the sheer amount of firepower Luxtura was forcing into his barrier making him slide back inch by inch.

 

“Let’s give him hell then,” Taylor said, raising his minigun.

 

“Alright, all open fire in three, two, one!” Webb counted.

 

One second later an absolute tsunami of firepower was sent directly at Luxtura’s cockpit. Luxtura tried to close the distance, but the sheer amount of force applied to it stopped it in its tracks, until Luxtura began to lose its grip.

 

It ceased firing and instead focused on trying to hold position, but to no avail.

 

And then the barrier running over the mech like a second skin shattered spectacularly. Immediately Luxtura turned around, so that the rain of plasma wouldn’t punch through the cockpit. The mech quickly began to retreat as well.

 

“Ha! Not so tough now, huh?!” Rosetta cried out.

 

“Where is it going?” Ratchet asked.

 

“It’s probably going to lick its wounds somewhere and recharge,” Kepler said.

 

“I wish the bastard would just give up and go to his mommy instead,” Kate grumbled.

 

Using the sudden lack of enemies, the Praetorians took the time to reload their weapons. Fortunately Pin had added a crate of ammo clips to the back of the payload, two per person.

 

“Shadow, catch,” Webb said, tossing six clips into the air.

 

An invisible force seized the clips, quickly taking them out of sight. “Two per person, shadow. Make sure you give our marksmen some!” Webb yelled after the force.

 

As soon as everyone had finished reloading, they continued escorting the bomb as if nothing had happened. Granted, they had to take a detour, but fortunately the delay ended up being merely five minutes.

 

“We got ‘em, boys,” Rosetta said. “Looks like they gave up.”

 

As soon as he said that, the walls on either side of the payload exploded spectacularly, and hundreds of Cragmites came swarming out.

 

Immediately a brawl started. All Zulu 3-4 units regrouped and began taking potshots at exposed enemies, but due to the chaos, they were hesitant to shoot out of fear of hitting an ally.

 

Down below, things were chaotic as could be. Tank, Titan, and Luna were wildly throwing punches, Webb had taken position on top of the payload and was fighting back-to-back with Taylor, Ratchet used Clank’s thruster-pack to gain an advantage while raining missiles on anyone stupid enough to get close, it was a mess.

 

Kepler quickly lost track of his teammates in this swarming mass of foes, but there was one person he made sure to keep an eye on.

 

In the distance, Kate was locked in a heated melee with a Cragmite soldier, both combatants wildly swinging their weapons around. Kepler tried his hardest to get to her position, but he was slowly forced with his back against a wall by five Cragmites.

 

“Kate!” Kepler yelled, seeing her fall. He immediately jumped back, before bouncing off the rusted, brown metal wall behind him. Kate saw him jump out of the corner of her eye, and she immediately raised her Praetorian Omniwrench. Kepler snatched it from her hand mid-flight while simultaneously dropping the disc that was his own Omniwrench in retracted form next to Kate, before slamming one of the wrench's heads into the ground and using it to propel himself further.

 

He gave the Cragmite a forceful kick in the face before rapidly striking five times with the wrench.

 

While the Cragmite recovered from Kepler's attack, said Lombax helped his partner get up. “Can you fight?”

 

Kate laughed, letting Kepler's Omniwrench extend to its full size. “I'm  _ way _ not done yet.”

 

Meanwhile the Cragmite had pulled out two machetes, preparing to fight both Lombaxes standing before him. Another Cragmite took position next to him, and the first Cragmite tossed him one of his weapons.

 

“So it's a two on two? You're gonna need more men,” Kepler said with a laugh. “Ready to kick some ass, Kate?”

 

“Just like in training?” she asked.

 

“Just like in training,” he replied, smirking behind his visor.

 

“Apastron technique?” Kate asked.

 

“Let's do it.”

 

They attacked as one, Kepler throwing Kate over the Cragmite soldiers before engaging one of them head-on. Mid-flight, Kate fired a few blasts of energy from her Omniwrench before, upon landing, slamming her wrench into the ground, and using the momentum to swing her back at her attackers.

 

Meanwhile, much to the Cragmites' surprise, Kepler had not attacked. Instead he had suddenly rolled under them, counting on them to try to hit him.

 

They tried, and he blocked the attack with his wrench. It left him pinned to the ground by two enemies, but at the same time it allowed Kate to strike freely. She hit the neck of the left Cragmite with enough force to send him falling to the ground, unconscious. The other Cragmite let Kepler go, and took a few steps back.

 

“Ars Solum,” Kepler said over a private channel.

 

“The ancient Fongoid fighting combo?” Kate asked.

 

Kepler nodded. “I'm done with this guy.”

 

Kepler tried to attack, but a forceful kick in the gut sent him back a few feet.

 

“Hah! Betcha that hurt!” The Cragmite cried out.

 

Kepler did nothing but pant as he kept his balance using his (or actually Kate’s) wrench.

 

The Cragmite stepped closer, an evil smirk forming on their face. “Your  _ girlfriend _ can’t save you now,” he said with a laugh, noticing Kate in the background, who was trying to keep three Cragmites away from Kepler.

 

Kepler stayed silent, though he was smirking behind his visor. “ _ Lure them into a false sense of security, aaaaand… now! _ ”

 

Kepler suddenly attacked, and it was too late for the Cragmite to react.

 

Kepler slammed his Omniwrench against the Cragmite’s head five times with enough force to send the Cragmite staggering back. Kepler then struck the ribs twice before finishing with slamming his Omniwrench into the ground whilst firing it, sending a shockwave across the ground that paralyzed his enemy.

 

The Cragmite attempted to get up, but Kepler was faster. He slammed the wrench into the ground, pinning the Cragmite’s neck. “Lights out,” he said before kicking the Cragmite in the face, knocking him out.

 

When he looked up he found that the tide of battle had turned, and he had been driven from his friends.

 

At least twenty Cragmites had gathered around him, each of them ready to eliminate Kepler.

 

Kepler said nothing for a minute, keeping his Omniwrench ready, a smug grin forming on his lips. “Last chance to run,” he warned, his smile inching wider.

 

The Cragmites laughed. “You’re not walking out of here in one piece,” one of them threatened back, readying what appeared to be some kind of assault rifle.

 

As if on cue, the area got darker, and raindrops began to fall.

 

Kepler chuckled. “Your funeral.”

 

Suddenly he shot forward, fast as sound, his hoverboots giving him the element of surprise that he needed.

 

Before anyone could react, Kepler had already smashed his wrench against the nearest Cragmite with enough force to dislocate their jaw.

 

Chaos followed, the Cragmites charging at him with loud war cries.

 

Just as Kepler had hoped.

 

Kepler jumped back, then bounced off the wall, releasing several blasts of energy from his wrench as he flew right over his enemies’ heads.

 

Rolling upon landing, he quickly spun on his heels, swiftly drawing the Omniwrench across the ground, creating a shockwave of energy, before executing a perfect Guard Stance, reflecting a volley of plasma bullets.

 

Three down, seventeen to go.

 

The Cragmites quickly swarmed him and attempted to drive him against a wall, an opportunity that Kepler took to execute a strange idea. “Pin, if you didn’t add this, I swear I’ll come back to haunt you,” Kepler mumbled as he ran straight at the wall, rolling or jumping twice to avoid enemy fire.

 

Now the madness of his plan.

 

Taking a deep breath in advance to drown out the alarm bells in the back of his head, he jumped and pressed his feet against the wall.

 

_ Clang! _

 

“ _ Pin, you magnificent bastard, you did it again. _ ”

 

With a wide smile, Kepler found himself running up the wall, much to the surprise of the foes far below.

 

Suddenly however, Kepler backflipped off the wall, diving at the ground face-first.

 

He wasted no time in starting to rain energy on his foes, before they came to their senses and attempted to shoot him.

 

Big mistake. Kepler easily spun the wrench around, reflecting the enemy fire, causing a second rain of plasma.

 

Upon landing, Kepler slammed the wrench into the ground with enough force to leave a dent in the metal, while at the same time triggering a massive pulse of energy.

 

Ten down, ten to go. But that was when the tides of the battle turned against Kepler.

 

Although he had been hit with mostly chip damage, one of his enemies got a lucky hit, and a hostile round dug deep into Kepler’s right arm.

 

Kepler said nothing, but until the Nanotech kicked in and fixed his arm, he would not be able to fight with his Omniwrench.

 

“Seems your luck is up, you filthy little-”

 

A loud war cry followed and, to Kepler’s relief, Kate came crashing down from the sky, slamming her Omniwrench against the back of the Cragmite’s head with enough force to shatter their skull.

 

The nearest Cragmite attempted to smack Kate with the back of his rifle, but Kate quickly rolled under the attack. “YOU can die too!” she roared as she kicked the Cragmite in the chest before executing him at point-blank range with a powerful smash.

 

Twelve down, eight to go, and fortunately Kepler’s arm had healed enough for him to rejoin the battle.

 

However, things were getting sourer for Ratchet, who was fighting quite a distance away from Kepler. Getting swarmed with enemies, he bounced off the nearest wall, landing safely in a clearer area. Despite that maneuver, he was immediately surrounded by enemies. With a small sigh of fatigue, Ratchet charged back into the fray, continuously switching between weapons to surprise his enemies, and to combine the effects of the weapons.

 

Alpha Disruptor to send a few Cragmites flying, followed by a Pyrocitor to create some space, then a volley of grenades from his Fusion Grenade glove. It was complete and utter chaos.

 

But Ratchet failed to notice in time that this sea of enemies was driving him further and further away from his allies. Clank was first to notice that he was having trouble detecting the Praetorians, something that greatly unnerved him. His big, green eyes searched the area for any sign of another Lombax, but he simply wasn't high up enough.

 

"Ratchet, we must get out of here!" Clank warned.

 

"Hang on, I almost got these bastards!" Ratchet hissed back while he, in utmost concentration, parred a swing of knives with a few Combustor-shots. This concentration would become Ratchet's demise.

 

Concentration evolved into tunnel vision, and soon enough Ratchet stopped keeping track of the amount of enemies, or the fact that he had to back off more and more.

 

Clank got more and more nervous until he had had enough. "Ratchet, I am getting us out of here, now."

 

Clank activated his Heli-Pack, creating a hole with the strong gust of wind created by the rotors. He immediately forced all energy into a rapid ascent, but he was not fast enough. To his dismay, Ratchet, with a loud yell, was pulled down, and Clank shot loose.

 

This change of mass caused Clank to lose balance, and quickly tried to compensate, something he would not have been able to do were it not for Aphelion's quick help.

 

Meanwhile Ratchet had landed again, and immediately started fighting back, but there were simply too many enemies.

 

Suddenly, Ratchet felt a dull smack on the back of his head. He saw the now eerily blurry ground get closer and closer, and then everything went black.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’ve got a plan,” Taylor hissed to Titan, who was watching his back.

 

“What’s your idea?” Titan asked through clenched teeth as he caught a knife between his hands mid-swing with a loud metal clang.

 

“We need to get this stupid thing out of here,” Taylor said with a nod to the payload. “And like this, we’re never going to succeed. In fact, the longer we stay here, the sooner these bastards are gonna find out that they can also wreck the bomb. My idea is that everyone starts pushing, sans three people for back coverage. We’ll just run them over.”

 

“Uh, Tay? What sort of thing is that?” Titan asked with a hesitating tone in his voice, something Taylor absolutely didn’t like.

 

He quickly glanced over his shoulder, and notice a flash of metal out of the corner. That’s all he could see.

 

Shortly after, at least one third of the Cragmite-soldiers collapsed like ragdolls in a giant Z-shaped pattern. In the center of this chaos stood Kepler, the visor masking the fact that he was looking around, trying to figure out what in the world had just happened.

 

The Cragmites were equally surprised, and all of them were staring at Kepler. Realizing he had a chance to turn the battle in their favor, Kepler striked a pose. “I’m coming for all of you, ya bastards!” he cried out as loud as he could before charging forward. Total panic broke out among the Cragmites, and they ran away as if the devil himself was chasing them.

 

“Kep… how the hell did you pull that off?” Kate asked when everyone grouped up at the payload.

 

“I… I’ve got no damn clue,” Kepler said, flabbergasted. “I really don’t know what the heck just happened.”

 

Clank landed on top of the bomb with his Heli-Pack. “Has anyone seen Ratchet?” he asked, worrying for the safety of his friend. Immediately everyone started looking around, but nobody found even a trace of Ratchet.

 

“When was the last time you saw him?” Kate asked, startled.

 

“Ratchet and I were separated mere minutes ago. He was pulled off of me by a group of Cragmite soldiers.”

 

“Is… is he dead?” Rosetta asked, saying what everyone else thought but dared not to speak.

 

“Then where is his body?” Taylor asked, noticing no fallen Lombax among the dead Cragmites littering the area. “I mean, if he died, his body has to be here, and I don’t see him.”

 

“Then it’s safe to assume he has been taken prisoner.” Webb said, shaking her head. “May the Zoni watch over him until we find him,” she continued, not knowing how much pain that line brought Clank.

 

The look of pain must have been noticeable, for Kepler asked him if everything was alright. “Yes, I am quite alright,” Clank lied.

 

“Sooo, what now?” Andromeda asked. “We can’t leave him behind like this.”

 

“Look!” Hawk suddenly yelled through the comms. “There’s a Cragmite vessel leaving the platform!”

 

“Any sign of Ratchet?” Kepler asked immediately.

 

“I see him,” Amari radioed. As soon as Hawk had noticed the little spacecraft, she had zoomed in. “I spy a golden furred Lombax in the back of the ship. They’re closing the ramp on the go, you see. They must’ve been in a hurry.”

 

“So, now what?” Webb asked.

 

“We have a goal, people. Let’s get to it,” Taylor said, getting behind the payload. “The least we can do is finish this mission.”

 

“I guess…” Kepler said. “I’ll try to inform Watchman. You all keep this cart moving,” Kepler said as he took position in front of the cart.

 

“This really doesn’t feel right though,” Kate said. As they moved on with the cart, the morale was low, as everyone silently prayed for Ratchet’s safety.

 

As one could imagine, Oort was not too happy to hear the news of Ratchet’s capture. “Oh, Orvus help me,” he sighed, burying his face in his hands. “How am I gonna inform Captain Apogee of this?”

 

“Maybe it’d be best to… withhold this information from her. At least until this mission has been completed,” Kepler radioed over a private channel.

 

“I don’t know, Kep,” Oort replied. “I really don’t know. I mean, I don’t want her panicking over him, but at the same time, she’ll get furious at me when she finds out. Agh! What to do? Either way, you focus on the mission, Kepler. I’ll figure this out.”

 

“Affirmative, sir!” Kepler responded. Fortunately the brawl earlier had taken a huge toll on the amount of Cragmite soldiers still on-site, so for the most part it was clean sailing to the heart of the complex, with only a few ambushes, though every time the enemies were swiftly dealt with.

 

When their target was finally coming into view however, things heated up again. Suddenly, without even so much as a warning, Luxtura slammed into the ground between them and the cart.

 

Luxtura’s pilot screamed in fury. “I’m gonna rip all of your ears off! And that’ll be just the start!”

 

“You know what?” Taylor said over the comms.

 

“You got a plan, Tay?” Kepler asked.

 

“Yeah. It’s called ‘fuck this guy’. Everyone, get over here and push. This thing will go on autopilot once it reaches the center.”

 

Everyone followed Taylor’s plan, and as one they began pushing the cart. All but Titan, who climbed onto the cart and raised his barrier defensively to shield his allies in case Luxtura tried something funny.

 

Luxtura realized too late what their plan was. Once the pilot figured it out at last, he commanded the mech to try and bring the cart to a halt, but there was just too much kinetic energy.

 

Luxtura gave it all it had, and in the end, the cart came to a grinding halt. “Hah! Now what, you filthy ratbags!” the pilot sneered, before realizing that his enemies were making a run for it. “Hey, where are y’all going?!”

 

“Look down, sucker!” Rosetta yelled over his shoulder. Out of sheer curiosity, Luxtura did, and noticed that the cart had transformed. It had reached it’s destination.

 

The payload began to bury itself into the metal, drilling through layers of Titanium. Luxtura’s pilot let out a cry of alarm and tried to pull it back out, but the metal behemoth was just too slow.

 

Luxtura could do nothing but watch as the cart fell through the metal. The pilot watched as it plummeted to the molten rock below before sinking into the bubbling lava.

 

The pilot of Luxtura barely had time to curse before a massive explosion shook the entire volcano.

 

By that time, the Lombaxes had reached the edge of the platform, where a drop ship was already waiting, courtesy of Oort’s fast actions. Everyone quickly boarded the ship, but they were not fast enough.

 

The explosion caused by the bomb was absolutely massive, and the volcano started spraying molten rock like a huge geyser.

 

But there was something in the way. The bottom of the Cragmite complex was designed to withstand a huge amount of heat, but it was never designed to withstand the  _ touch _ of lava, and thus the molten rock began tearing through the layers of Titanium at an alarming rate.

 

Cracks began to form throughout the complex as it became less and less stable. Alarmed, Luxtura tried to make a run for it, but being a metal titan in the middle of a huge, unstable facility, the mech’s weight only sped up the process.

 

Before he could get far, the complex fell apart at the center, and Luxtura was sent falling into the bubbling rock below, the pilot letting out a loud, final scream before he and his mech became part of the planet.

 

The shockwave of this event surged through the complex and knocked Kate, who had been last to board the ship, off her feet, as she was about to step onto the boarding ramp.

 

“Kate!” Kepler yelled. He ran down the boarding ramp, diving forward halfway, grinding to a halt at the very edge. Meanwhile Kate struggled to get up while the ground underneath her began to tilt. Kepler reached out to her, and for a terrifying moment their fingers graced past each other.

 

“No!” Kepler yelled as the ship began to rise, leaving Kate behind.

 

He would not let her die. If she was going to die, he would be with her. Without another word, he jumped off. At this point in time, the platform Kate was on had angled enough for her to start sliding down. Noticing Kepler falling down towards her, she reached up, before grabbing his hand. They plummeted towards the molten rock with loud screams, before suddenly, their descent stopped.

 

“Hang on, pals! We got you two!” Tank said through gritted teeth as he held on to Kepler’s legs. Looking up, Kepler noticed that his allies had acted very quickly, forming a chain of people, each holding on to each other’s ankles. At the very end of this chain, Rosetta, of course, had gotten the short end of the stick, holding on to Taylor’s legs while his magne-boots kept him attached to the drop ship. “Owowowowowowowow!” he lamented. “Please hurry the hell up, I’m getting torn in half here!”

 

“Rosetta, if you let go, I swear to the Zoni-” Taylor began before Andromeda interrupted him. “We believe in you, Liam!”

 

“Thank you,” Rosetta replied through gritted teeth. Fortunately, the drop ship was at fast as it was mobile, and soon enough the air resistance was low enough for Rosetta to start pulling Taylor in. Locking himself to the floor, Taylor began pulling in Andromeda together with Rosetta, before the three of them pulled in Amari, and so forth, until finally Kate climbed aboard.

 

Kate had expected her teammates to be grumpy after that dangerous and terrifying action, but instead, they all asked if she was okay. “I’m fine, guys. I owe you all one,” Kate said.

 

“I am sorry I could not be of much help,” Clank said, nervously looking down at the floor.

 

Kate got down on one knee, to bring herself to Clank’s eye level. “It’s okay, little guy. You did great today.”

 

Meanwhile, Taylor radioed Oort. “Watchman, mission complete. We are heading to your position now.”

 

“Excellent work, people!” Oort complimented. “I will await your return,” he added before switching channels. “Captain Apogee?”

 

“Yes, general? What’s the latest?” Talwyn replied immediately.

 

“You’re not going to like what I have to say...” Oort began, his heart turning to lead. This wasn’t going to be easy.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Gone

"What happened?" Talwyn instantly asked Oort with enough fear in her voice to spook Sasha, who had been sitting on the couch in the back of the comms room. Sasha had been trying to stay up-to-date with the status of Solana Galaxy as a whole, more importantly how the civilians were doing, and if any had been harmed during the Cragmite takeover.

 

Sasha got up, and walked over to Talwyn, watching over Talwyn's shoulder. Oort's face was visible on the monitor, and he seemed upset, and tired. He saluted as soon as he saw that Sasha walked into view. “Mayor Phyronix, great to see you're doing well.”

 

Sasha gave him a polite nod. “I didn't mean to interrupt you, General. Please proceed.” she said, crossing her arms behind her back.

 

Oort nodded and turned to Talwyn. “Captain Apogee, firstly we have lost two Zulu 3-4 Rangers. They gave their lives for this mission.”

 

Sasha closed her eyes, and sighed, silently mourning the loss of the two soldiers. She reopened them when Oort continued, however.

 

“We've also received word that... that Ratchet has been captured by the enemy.” Oort said, tiredly rubbing his eyes. “I'm sorry, Captain. I really don't know how to bring this news to you.”

 

Talwyn acknowledged. “Thank you, General. Please congratulate the surviving soldiers on their victory on my behalf. I would like to propose another video transmission in about two hours to discuss a follow-up target.”

 

Oort saluted. “I'll be there, Captain. Watchman, out.”

 

The screen turned to black.

 

Sasha eyed Talwyn cautiously. The news that Ratchet had been captured had sent chills down her spine and formed a clump of lead in her stomach, but how calm Talwyn had stayed gave her the creeps.

 

Talwyn slowly got up, and Sasha saw that Talwyn's hands were shaking. Familiarity struck Sasha as she remembered how, years ago, she had acted when she had been informed that Ratchet, Clank and Al had been taken prisoner by Dreadzone.

 

Sasha immediately rushed to Talwyn's side. “Captain-”

 

“I'm fine, Major Phyronix.” Talwyn replied with a shaky voice. Sasha shook her head, wrapping an arm around Talwyn's shoulders. “I know you're not. Come with me please.”

 

“What?!” Talwyn replied with more anger in her voice than Sasha had expected, and she tried to brush Sasha's arm off her shoulders, but Sasha's grip as like iron. “I know you care about Ratchet. I can tell.”

 

Sasha studied Talwyn's face for a reply. She noted that Talwyn's eyes had already turned slightly reddish, and that Talwyn's lower lip was trembling slightly. This bubble was about to burst.

 

“ _ Good. _ ” Sasha thought. “ _ The sooner she gets this out of her system, the better; but how do I get that dam to break? _ ”

 

She decided to poke a little. “Do you think he'll be alright?” she asked Talwyn.

 

Bull's eye.

 

With a loud cry of agony, Talwyn released her built-up emotions; the tsunami of fear and sadness that had consumed her the second Oort had informed her of Ratchet's fate. “I don't know!” she screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks.

 

Sasha responded by forcing Talwyn's face into her shoulder, before patting her on the back. They stood like that for a while, Talwyn crying her fear away until there were no more tears at her disposal. She took a step back. “I'm so, so sorry.” Talwyn whispered. “I'm supposed to be professional.”

 

Sasha gave her a gentle smile. “Don't apologize. I know exactly what it feels like, knowing someone you care about may or may not be dead.”

 

“How do  _ you _ know?” Talwyn asked.

 

Sasha shook her head. “Not here.” she said before taking Talwyn's hand and guiding her out of the control center, through the hallways (that were eerily devoid of people now that everyone but a handful of Rangers was out fighting in Solana), to the small break room in the back of the building. She gestured for Talwyn to sit down at the plastic coffee table that was standing in the middle of the room while she herself walked over to the sink, before sitting down across from Talwyn, placing a cup of tea in front of said Markazian.

 

“Take it, it helps.” Sasha said.

 

Talwyn picked up the cup and let the tea warm her hands for a moment, before bringing it to her lips. Sasha hadn't lied.

 

The tea had a warm and rich flavor, with a sweet aftertaste, and was just strong enough: not too weak to have a bland and unnoticeable taste, yet not too strong either - the flavor didn't force itself upon the Markazian's tongue, but rather glided over it, and soon enough Talwyn began to forget about the world. She closed her eyes and focused on her tea, giving her brains a quick breather from the stress of life.

 

She hadn't expected much of the tea - she had never been a tea person, and instead preferred it's stronger alternatives, but this tea undeniably took her by surprise. The warm beverage soothed her, and helped her give her pain a place. To her surprise, Talwyn felt a bit sad when she downed the last drop.

 

She reopened her eyes, and began to study the Cazar sitting across from her. Sasha's hands were lying on the table, folded, and she was staring at her thumbs, seemingly contemplating something.

 

“We were together once.” she suddenly said. “Huh?” Talwyn replied in genuine confusion.

 

“Ratchet and I. We used to be in a romantic relationship.” Sasha clarified, still not making eye contact. “But... it didn't work out.”

 

“Yeah I know, but I never knew why?” Talwyn asked, clutching the cup of tea tighter to savor the last bit of warmth it had to offer.

 

Sasha sighed. “I was an idiot. I suffocated him.”

 

Talwyn said nothing, leaning forward a little so she could hear Sasha better.

 

Sasha avoided Talwyn's gaze as she continued. “Just look at him, then at me. Ratchet's a greasemonkey, I'm a politician. He's a free spirit and a lovable goofball, while I draw comfort from familiarity, and prefer to be formal. It didn't work out because I tried to change him. I was egotistical and tried to force him into a role in life that he couldn't find happiness in.”

 

Sasha winced as one of her arguments with Ratchet resurfaced from her memories. Their last argument. “Work, work, work, you're always out to work!” Ratchet had argued. “From five in the morning to eight in the evening, you're always away, and when you finally come home you're all tired, to the point where you get angry when I talk to you!”

 

“Yes, Ratchet! I have a  _ city _ depending on me, in case you forgot!” she had argued back.

 

“They only care because you decide what happens with their homes, you know just as well as I do that they don't care about your personality. 'Sasha Phyronix' is nothing but a face to them.”

 

“So? I still have to care for them!”

 

“When will you start caring about  _ me _ though?!” Ratchet had fired back, looking more hurt than she had ever seen him.

 

“You _ know _ I care about you or we wouldn't be here-”

 

“Do you really?” Ratchet had asked. “Do you really care about me? Because when you're home you barely even acknowledge my existence. I can try and start a conversation - tell you about my day, ask about yours, et cetera but all I get is 'hm'.”

 

Ratchet had let out a long sigh before looking up at her. “I can't take this any longer, Sash. It's gonna be either me or your work, but you can't have both.”

 

“Do you even realize what you're asking of me here?!” she had cried out at the top of her lungs.

 

Ratchet hadn't even flinched. “Nothing compared to what you ask of me. You keep forcing me to be someone I'm not, and you demand eternal patience. Out of love I tried so hard to give you both, but you barely even talk to me anymore. You don't talk while you're home, and when I call you at work because I just miss hearing your voice, I either get no response or a rushed one.”

 

Ratchet had shaken his head. “One or the other, Sash.”

 

Sasha shook her head, pushing the memory out of her mind. “I took him for granted.” she mumbled. Meanwhile Talwyn felt fury build up inside her, before Sasha suddenly said something that made her anger vanish like a snowflake on the sun.

 

“I just wish him the best.” Sasha mumbled, before finally making eye contact with Talwyn. “Promise me one thing - that you won't make the mistake I made.”

 

“Wha-” Talwyn began before Sasha cut her off. “Promise it.”

 

“I promise.” Talwyn replied, still quite confused as to what was going on.

 

Sasha sighed. “Thank you. But I still haven't answered your question - how I know how you feel. You see, I met Ratchet ages ago, maybe he told you this story already, I don’t know. Back then when Dr. Nefarious tried to destroy Solana Galaxy. Ratchet was in Bogon at the time. He told me that he had been playing a game of Galactic Chess with Clank - and losing terribly because he forgot some of the rules (Talwyn chuckled at that) - and that Clank wanted to watch an episode of Secret Agent Clank afterwards. When the episode hit an ad break, Ratchet changed the channel, coming across a news broadcast that Nefarious was attacking Veldin, Ratchet's homeworld.“Ratchet and Clank immediately headed to Veldin and helped stop the attack, after which they teamed up with the Galactic Rangers - lead by me at the time - and helped stop Nefarious' plan of turning every organic life form into robotic lifeforms. After that, Ratchet and I started dating, but a few months after Nefarious' defeat, I was offered the position of Major of Metropolis, and I accepted. I left Ratchet, Clank, and the technician of the Ranger's Q-Force unit - a team of 'experts' Qwark assembled - in charge of the ship. Not long after that, a hero known as Captain Starshield disappeared. One month later I was informed that he had been killed in something called Dreadzone - an illegal underground combat sports show. Dreadzone would capture well-known heroes and force them to fight for their lives in never-ending 'Dreadzone challenges'. The irony is, when I learned of Starshield's fate, I contacted the Phoenix - the Ranger mothership - immediately, to tell Ratchet about Dreadzone. I was cut off mid-sentence because the Phoenix disconnected the call - the ship went on red alert. A few hours later I was informed that Ratchet, Clank and Al had been taken by Dreadzone. That's why I know how you feel, I felt the same way after Ratchet had been imprisoned by Dreadzone. It hurts when a friend has been taken hostage, but when it's a loved one... that's just excruciating.”

 

“Loved one?” Talwyn asked.

 

Sasha gave her a knowing smile. “My  _ job _ is to read people, Captain.”

 

“Talwyn.” Talwyn replied, cutting her off. “Please call me Talwyn.”

 

Sasha nodded. “Talwyn, you can't fool me. I know that that Lombax means more to you than you show.”

 

Talwyn sighed. “Well, might as well share a story of my own. Until a few years ago, I used to live on my family's space station - the Apogee Space Station, located at the heart of the Nundac Asteroid Ring. When my mother passed away, I lived there with just my father, and two warbots he had befriended during his travels. He had saved them from an ambush and managed to repair their broken circuitry - the wires in their backs had been broken, leaving them unable to walk. Anyhow, it was just the four of us then, but nothing lasts forever. One day, space pirates raided the station, and took an artifact that my father was very careful about - not even I was allowed to get near it. He went after them... and that was the last time I saw him. The last I saw of him was his big hat disappearing around the corner. I bolted after him, but when I reached the same corner, he was already gone.”

 

Talwyn fell silent for a moment, before continuing. “Cronk and Zephyr - the two warbots - looked after me since then, until, years later, another intruder appeared. It didn't take long for them to reach the panic room that Cronk, Zephyr and I had locked ourselves in, and they managed to break in using a powerful laser. It was Ratchet, who had come searching the artifact that my father had protected. He explained the situation he was in - he was on the run for Tachyon - and we decided to team up with him. I grew quite attached to Ratchet over the course of our adventure - he even came to break us out when Tachyon had imprisoned Cronk, Zephyr and I in Zordoom Prison. Two years after Tachyon's first defeat, another villain was captured - Vendra Prog, one of the infamous Prog twins. I asked Ratchet, Clank, Cronk and Zephyr to guard her aboard the starship Nebulox, the ship tasked with escorting Vendra to a max-security prison, but they were ambushed by the other Prog twin - Neftin Prog, who had brought a small army of hired mercenaries. Ratchet and Clank managed to escape, but the Nebulox was destroyed, and it took Cronk and Zephyr with it.”

 

Talwyn sighed. “Ratchet and Clank are all I have left in this world. I lost everything but them. If something were to happen to either of them...”

 

Sasha got up and walked around the table, before placing a comforting arm around Talwyn's shoulders. “He'll be fine.” Sasha said. “This is  _ Ratchet _ we're talking about. He'll figure a way out no matter how much the odds are against him.”

 

“Doesn't mean I won't be scared for him though.” Talwyn mumbled.

 

“I know, and that's okay, but sitting around moping won't get him back. I learned back in the Dreadzone days that the best thing to do in such a scenario is to make sure that everything else goes fine, so that as soon as Ratchet breaks out, we're there to catch him.”

 

“You're right.” Talwyn said before getting up. “Thanks, Major-”

 

“Sasha.” Sasha said with a smile.

 

Talwyn chuckled. “Thanks, Sasha.”

 

“Any day.” Sasha said with a smile. “Now let's go make sure we're ready to catch him. Let's start by trying to figure out where he could have been taken.”

 

* * *

 

Fortunately, Ratchet slept through most of the flight, the dart in the back of his neck made sure of that. When the Cragmite mothership appeared though, his ribs were forcefully introduced to an oversized cragmite foot.

 

“Wake up, furball.” one of the three Cragmites that had been tasked with keeping an eye on the prisoner growled.

 

Ratchet coughed before gasping for air - the kick had robbed the air from his lungs. Before he had recovered from the blow, one of the Cragmites grabbed his ears and forced him onto his feet, Ratchet letting out a cry of pain in the process, a sound that apparently brought the Cragmites joy, for they smiled like predators that had cornered their prey.

 

Ratchet's eyes widened when he began measuring the sheer size of the vessel ahead of him. The Cragmite mothership had a hull of Raritanium-Trillium alloy, with a carbon-Titanium coating to make the ship's exterior dark and rough rather than light and shiny, providing an excellent camouflage against the blackness of deep space.

 

In terms of size, the word 'behemoth' came to mind - Ratchet reckoned the ship to be four times the size of the entire Phoenix. What's more, he spotted twelve other Cragmite warships akin to the one they were heading to, although these twelve others were about thirty percent smaller.

 

Ratchet noticed a large gap in the hull of the ship they were heading to. The gap had the shape of a horizontally stretched octagon, and was filled up by a deep crimson force field. Ratchet guessed correctly that this area was a landing bay, and soon enough the Cragmite drop ship flew through the force field. Ratchet heard a loud hiss and the ship rattled a little as it deployed the landing gear. As soon as the Cragmite pilots had been given clearance to leave the ship, Ratchet was forced down a staircase to the ship's lower deck, where the boarding ramp opened up. A blast of heat hit Ratchet like a truck, it felt like Pokitaru on steroids.

 

He felt the cold metal of a gunbarrel against the back of his neck before two Cragmites grabbed his arm and began to escort him through the hallways. Shortly after Ratchet was already panting because of the heat, and they still had a long way to go.

 

After half an hour of walking, they reached the max-security block but, to Ratchet's surprise, they passed right by it. Ratchet was surprised (and horrified) to find out that the ship had a prison block designed to house Lombaxes.

 

Only two of the five cells seemed to be in use however. Ratchet was pulled towards the second leftmost one while two bulky-looking Cragmites opened the cell by turning the wheel on the vault-grade door.

 

The door opened with a loud, metallic creaking, and Ratchet noticed that the door was several inches thick, before he was pushed in.

 

Ratchet had expected a filthy cell, but instead, he was forced into a room so white that it hurt his eyes. He blinked several times after being guided through the dark tunnels, before letting out a scream as he fell forward.

 

He was hit with a blast of cold as he fell face-first into water. He quickly pushed his head above the surface and searched for a solid floor with his feet, finding one soon enough. Standing up, he noticed the water to reach just past his shoulders, and that it was frigid. Ratchet turned to where he had came from and noticed that it was a few foot drop into the prison cell.

 

“New face, huh? Where'd you come from?” a voice said. It was a female voice, and it echoed through the chamber.

 

Ratchet turned around, and noticed a golden blob. It was about one and a half times as tall as he was. He brushed the water out of his eyes and focused, and noticed that what he had expected to be one person was in actuality two people.

 

An adult female Lombax a bit shorter than himself, and a child, sitting on the aforementioned female's shoulders. Ratchet studied their faces and realized that they were mother and daughter - they resembled each other too much to not be related.

 

“Well? Have you lost your tongue?” the woman said, and Ratchet realized he hadn't answered. “I'm Ratchet.” he said, walking over them through the water. Suddenly, realization hit him. “Wait, I know you two...”

 

The woman seemed to remember something too. “Weren't you...” she said, lost in thought.

 

Suddenly, she remembered in full. “Fastoon! You helped us, well, most of us, get out from under that rubble!”

 

Ratchet nodded. “As much as I could.”

 

The woman raced over to him and grabbed his shoulders. “My husband and son - what happened to them?”

 

“Your husband was wounded by the missile strike, though he protected your son with his life. I had to carry them both to the portal. They're both in the Lombax dimension now, though he believes you to be dead.” Ratchet replied.

 

The woman gritted her teeth. “Maybe it'd have been better if we had died down there. You wouldn't believe the things they put us through.”

 

Ratchet suddenly realized that the child on the woman's shoulders hadn't moved. “Is everything okay?” he asked, turning to the child.

 

The child locked eyes with Ratchet, but said nothing. “Shock.” the mother explained. “She hasn't spoken in weeks.”

 

Guilt dug deeper into Ratchet's heart. If only he had been fast enough back on Fastoon...

 

“I'm so, so sorry.” he whispered. “If only I had been fast enough...”

 

The woman placed her right hand on his shoulder. “That things went like this is nobody's fault but Tachyon. You didn't attack Fastoon, and you didn't order that missile strike. You didn't capture me and my daughter and had us tortured for weeks. Please don't beat yourself up over what happened.”

 

“Thanks.” Ratchet replied, though guilt still ate away in the back of his mind. Suddenly, his ears picked up the sound of a loud splash, followed by the screeches of a heavy door closing.

 

He turned to the sound of the splash, and saw another Lombax rise up from the water.

 

“No...” he whispered as he walked closer. “Angela?!”

 

Sure enough, Angela Cross arose from the water, wiping some droplets out of her eyes. The voice made her jump, and she turned to the source of the voice immediately. “Ratchet?!”

 

They stared at each other for a few moments, both of their faces locked in an expression of pure shock.

 

After a while, Angela spoke up at last. “Man, you really insist on being small, do you?” she said with a grin. True enough, the water only reached up to her waist.

 

Ratchet rolled his eyes with a laugh.

 

“I assume the two of you know each other?” the mother said.

 

“All too well.” Angela said with a smile, before realizing that someone other than Ratchet had spoken. She immediately turned to the other adult female in the room. “Oh-uh, I haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?”

 

“Then again, neither have I.” she replied, shaking her head with a smile.

 

Angela crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, name's Angela.”

 

The woman nodded. “My name is Lexi, and the child sitting on my shoulders is my daughter, Eileen.”

 

“Nice to meet you, Lexi. You too, Eileen.” Ratchet said, making Lexi smile a little.

 

“Nice to meet you two indeed, Ratchet, take a guess at the temperature of this water.”

 

Ratchet shivered. “I know it's frigid - wait...”

 

Angela nodded. “Take a look around. This room is white because its walls are covered in special tiles that are too smooth to climb, and the cold water and cold air are meant as restrains. Because I live on Grelbin however, these bastards were quick to find out that cold means nothing to me, so they’ve injected me with something that lowers my tolerance for the cold, I swear those fuc-”

 

Lexi cleared her throat, interrupting Angela. She gave Angela a stern glare before looking up at the child on her shoulders. ' _ Mind your language, there are kids here. _ ' she signaled. Angela rolled her eyes and turned back to Ratchet. “Your own attire is far from perfect either.” Angela added with a nod to Ratchet.

 

Ratchet looked down and realized he hadn't even noticed the change in his apparel. Apparently, during the flight, the Cragmites had stripped him of his armor, and his Quick-Select device, leaving him in the silver sleeveless shirt and green trousers he wore underneath.

 

“Huh, I didn't even notice my armor was gone. Probably because this ship is boiling.” Ratchet mumbled.

 

“Wonder why that is?” Angela asked him.

 

“Why it's so damn hot outside this cell? Yeah.” Ratchet said as he tried not to shiver. The cold water was starting to get to him.

 

“It's because of the Cragmites.” Angela explained. “Reepor, the Cragmite dimension, every place they inhabit is likely dark, wet and hot. They're cold-blooded after all, they excel at working in warmer environments, whereas we Lombaxes dislike such heat.”

 

“Hey, uh...” Lexi began. “I really don't want to interrupt, but... now that I'm not the only adult in this vault anymore... could either of you carry for a moment?”

 

“Carry Eileen?” Ratchet asked.

 

“The water is too high for Eileen to stand.” Lexi explained.

 

Ratchet felt disgusted. The Cragmites must've adjusted the water level like that on purpose. “Yeah, sure, I can carry Eileen for a while. I mean, I'm used to carrying a heavy robot.” he said. Lexi gave him a thankful smile, and soon Ratchet was carrying Eileen on his back.

 

“Thank you.” Lexi said with a sigh, rubbing her sore back. “I must've been carrying her for hours now.”

 

“Hours?” Ratchet said, tilting his head a little in confusion. “Hours.” Lexi repeated. “But I don't care. Anything for my daughter.”

 

Despite everything, Ratchet smiled. Her determination and strong will were admirable at least.

 

Ratchet heard Angela scoff behind him, and he turned around slightly. “Everything okay?”

 

Angela was studying the walls, arms crossed. She laughed bitterly at his statement. “If everything was okay, I'd be on Grelbin with a big mug of hot chocolate.”

 

When she noticed the look Eris was giving her, Angela mentally strangled herself for mentioning chocolate. She decided to quickly change the subject. “Anyhow, if I ever get out of this da- (Lexi gave her another glare) erm, out of this thing, those Cragmites better have their life insurance set up. I mean, it isn't gonna get much more sadistic than this. Let's just sum it up.”

 

Angela nodded to the tiles on the wall. “Super smooth tiles to keep us trapped down here. The only way out is through a ladder hidden in the wall, and unless they say so, that ladder ain't coming out of that wall.”

 

She then nodded to the cold water. “Then this water. Because it's so cold, we burn so much energy, that we wouldn't be able to fight even if we wanted to. Besides that, we can't sit down or sleep. Not until they drain this cell in the evening.”

 

“How do you know that?” Ratchet interrupted.

 

“You think this is my first day in here?” Angela replied. “I wish it was. No, I've been here for a while now.”

 

“How'd you end up here?” Ratchet asked. “I mean, last time I even heard of you was years ago.”

 

“...And you didn't come look for me?” Angela pried a little.

 

“Hey, I was busy preventing some weirdo from breaking the space-time continuum!” Ratchet countered.

 

Angela let out a dry chuckle. “Fair enough. I wouldn't have wanted you to come for me anyway.”

 

She sighed. “Sit down, boy - on second thought, let's not. Anyhow, allow me to fill you in on what happened to me since the last time we saw each other.”

* * *

 

After a short time spent in orbit, the drop ship began to lower itself to the rough and cratered surface of Tamrak's stellar companion. Kepler was standing by the window, gazing at the distant blue orb that was Tamrak. He hadn't spoken to anyone for the entirety of the flight to the moonbase.

 

Kate watched him from where she sat in the main bay, before eventually getting up and walking over to him. “Hey.” she whispered, leaning over his shoulder a little. “Is everything okay?”

 

Kepler glared to where Kate's head was, but as soon as he realized it was her, his gaze softened. “No, not really.” he said, breaking eye contact and staring back out the window, this time at the rocky peaks zipping past them. “I just can't help but feel like I could have done more. Should have done more. I should have looked after him, Kate.”

 

Kepler leaned forward a little, letting his forehead rest against the reinforced glass. “I know how you feel.” Kate said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I feel the same way. But standing around moping won't help him.”

 

Kepler sighed. “You're right.” He turned to face Kate. “Thank you, Kate.”

 

Kate gave him a warm smile, though he could tell by her eyes (Kate had retracted her visor a few minutes earlier to breathe a little easier) that she was sad.

 

Soon, the drop ship cruised into the hastily set up hangar. With no oxygen surrounding the ship, everyone locked their visors before leaving through the boarding ramp. Watchman was waiting for them when they came in through the airlocks in groups of five. He was standing with his arms behind his back, trying to look as tall as possible and succeeding. Four rows of seats had been placed in front of Oort and, taking the hint, they all took place, Bravo-4 taking front row, Sierra-1 after that, then Alpha-7, and lastly Zulu 3-4. With no seats left up front, Clank ended up standing beside the first row of seats.

 

Oort waited patiently until everyone was silent, his face not revealing any emotion.

 

When, at last, all was silent, Oort still didn't move. Silence reigned for a full minute before Oort slowly began to move. He slowly began to clap, more and more enthusiasm appearing by the second as a smile formed on his face. “Well done, people! Well done.” he said. “The mission was successful, Ranger strike teams and Megacorp bomber drones are already on their way to the Cragmite bases we have been able to locate on the planet. By sunrise tomorrow, Tamrak will be fully ours.”

 

He paused for a moment. “However, this victory had a price. Although I am grateful to see most of you here unharmed - for which I think Elder Pin's brilliant engineering deserves great praise - I ask of all of you a few minutes of silence to remember those fallen. In total, four Zulu 3-4 warriors lost their lives down there.”

 

Everyone stayed silent for a full minute, while Oort walked over to the table shoved against the wall. Four candles and a matchbox had been placed on the table. Oort silently moved the table to the center of the room, in front of the four rows of seats, before lighting the four candles. He then placed a Lombax medal of honor beside each of them. As one, everyone in the room rose, and saluted the candles.

 

“Now,” Oort began after the minute had passed, “There is another person that we should honor. I am talking about Ratchet. He fought valiantly, but in the end, he was captured by the enemy.”

 

Oort's eyes roamed the crowd, his face the definition of seriousness. “We already have four candles burning before us. I ask of you all to try your hardest, so that adding a fifth will not be necessary.”

 

All of the soldiers rose. “Sir, yes sir!” echoed through the room. Oort nodded. “Again, my respect to all of you. Take a day off, people. You earned it. One last thing before you all go - I will be discussing the next planetary target with Captain Apogee, Major Phyronix and President Phyronix over the next few hours. I will inform all of you as soon as I have news.”

 

When everyone rose, Kate eyes picked up a glistering of metal. She noticed Clank, who was watching as everyone left, and she felt sympathy for him.

 

He was lost here. War was never Clank's forte, so instead he took comfort in the role of letting Ratchet handle the fighting, and supporting said Lombax wherever possible. But now that Ratchet was gone, Clank had nowhere to go.

 

When everyone, even Oort, had left, Clank climbed up on one of the seats, letting his feet dangle above the ground. The seat was way too big for the small robot.

 

Kate sat down next to him. “Hey, little guy.” she spoke. “You alright?”

 

Clank looked up at her, and forced a smile. “I am quite alright, thank you, miss Eridani.”

 

Kate knew that it was a lie, but decided not to push him, thus they sat there for a while, watching the flames of the four candles shiver at even the slightest breeze.

 

“I am... afraid.” Clank eventually confessed. “I have been separated from Ratchet before, but those times, I could take comfort in the knowledge that he would be alright. That he would come back. This time, I am not certain.”

 

Clank stayed silent for a moment, before continuing. “I am a robot. A logical being. My mind is driven by numbers and the laws of logic, and... I've run these calculations numerous times for the past few hours, hoping my logic had been flawed somewhere, but... despite wishing that it wouldn't be, the most logical conclusion seems to be... that I will not see him ever again.”

 

Kate picked him up and hugged him. She wanted to speak, to comfort him, but she knew from experience that it would be futile. Things wouldn't be right until the day Ratchet came walking in through the airlock with a smile.

 

“Clank.” Kate eventually said. “You said you calculated the chance of Ratchet not coming back... that means you know that there's a chance that he will return.”

 

“Yes, but it is only 13.63590152951420586120892751 percent.” Clank replied. Kate could only remember the first three numbers. “I used Decimals for the most accurate calculations.” Clank explained, as if he could read Kate's mind.

 

“So that means that there is a 14% chance that Ratchet will come back.” Kate concluded.

 

“Theoretically, yes.” Clank replied

 

“Then hold on to that hope, Clank.”

 

“But it isn't logical...”

 

“You two have defied logic and chance before.” Kate reminded him.

 

“I suppose that is true.” Clank admitted.

 

“Just have faith, Clank. He'll come back. I promise.” Kate tried.

 

Clank shook his head with a smile. “Do not make promises about things that are beyond your control.”

 

Kate chuckled. “I know he'll come back. I just know it. And I'm certain that, deep down, you know too.”

 

And then, finally, Clank gave her a genuine smile. “Thank you, miss Eri-”

 

“Call me Kate, please.” Kate said with a smile.

 

Clank nodded. “Thank you, Kate.”

 

“Any day, little buddy.” she replied.

 

“ _ Ratchet... please hold on. We're coming for you. _ ” she thought.

 


	17. Chapter Seventeen: A Recollection

"Quite a lot has happened since the last time we saw each other." Angela began, leaning against the wall of the cell. A few strands of wet hair fell into her face, and she brushed them aside with a tired huff. “I suppose it all began a few months, maybe a year after the Protopet ordeal. I don't remember the exact date anymore. Anyhow, I was at home, on Grelbin, reading a book, when suddenly someone was knocking on my door. I open the door, and standing before me was this huge man. Brown leather boots, brown trousers, and a cream vest. His face was hidden at first behind this colossal hat. All I could see of his face were two pointy ears and a long beard poking out from under that hat. I recall thinking 'A cowboy in the middle of an ice sea. This man is probably lost.'

 

He just sorta let himself in, stepping right past me. He leaned out of the doorframe, looked left and right, then closed the door. I asked him if he was okay, because - I mean, I've lived next to a weirdo for years, but this was extraordinary, even for me. Apologies to my neighbor that I've just named a weirdo, but no sane person drags a beach seat to an ice sea and starts fishing among the yeti's. That's just nuts. Then the whole floating rocks thing, and how he sometimes came up to my door to ask if I had 'seen one of his companion rocks fly by' - to me the man was cuckoo.

 

Anyhow, this big 'cowboy guy' sat down on my couch, uninvited mind you, and began with 'I have something to tell you. It takes a lot of the imagination, bug please, for your own sake, believe me.'

 

I replied with 'I live next to a dude that looks after floating rocks all day, I've seen some stuff.' He laughed at that, and asked me to sit down as well. Curious, I did, and he began his story. He told me his name was Max, Max Apogee, and that he was there because he needed my help, and I, apparently, needed his help. He told me there was this guy, a Cragmite, going around killing Lombaxes out of a personal grudge, and that, thanks to the Protopet, he knew all to well about my existence. That's because, after all the shi-erm, after all the trouble I'd been through for that thing, Megacorp made sure the people behind it were well known and thanked for their efforts. Max told me that Megacorp had already been infiltrated by the Cragmite, named Tachyon, or rather his spies, and that he knew where I lived, and that an army was coming specifically to kill me.

 

I chose to believe him, and if I hadn't, lord knows what would've happened. In any case I would be dead.”

 

Angela paused and scoffed. “The bastards would probably have slit my throat and thrown what would've been left of me to the yeti's.” she muttered under her breath, glaring at the massive door, before sighing and continuing.

 

“Anyhow, I quickly packed my bags and we got out of there. Max's ship was, how shall I put this, not nearly as elegant as yours in design. It was basically a flying brick with some wings and a cockpit. A courier ship. He told me to place my bags in the back and get in. I barely had time to turn off all electronics and lock the door of my house before he nearly forced me into that ship. We hadn't left a moment too soon. Tachyon's ships spied us on our way up, so Max forced the ship back down. He steered his ship into Grelbin's ice cliff mazes, and were it not for my knowledge of the planet, we never would have gotten back out. Tachyon's men weren't as lucky.

 

Anyhow, when we finally got off Grelbin, Max headed straight to Polaris galaxy, a two week journey because he didn't want to risk warping. So joy, I slept on crates for two weeks, but I figured it was better than being dead. When we finally arrived in Polaris, Max headed straight to a planet called Ardolis. What happened next is cruel irony.”

 

* * *

 

 

Angela frowned as Max carefully guided the ship to a possible landing site. It was a flat rocky area, hidden behind a few yards of dense bushes and vines, leaving the ship invisible to those unaware of its location. Max turned off the engines and began to inform Angela of what they were doing here.

 

“A few years ago,” he began, “I found a very, very special artifact on one of my travels. It was on planet Fastoon. I was exploring the ruined cities until I came across a house that was in surprisingly good condition. It had faced a fire for sure, but not the bombardment that its fellow constructions had endured. I entered the house, curious to find out more about the people who lived there, and I found a safe. Symbols had been etched into the side, clearly in a rush. I was able to decode it, and it gave the answer as to how to open the safe. Inside was the artifact. It, too, had strange symbols on it, the same, forgotten language as on the safe it was in. However, instead of giving clear instructions, all it gave was some cryptic message. I brought it to my home in the Nundac Asteroid Ring so that I could decode it later, but before I could get to the bottom of it, it was taken by space pirates, and brought here. I'll explain later, but it is crucial that we get to that artifact.”

 

It was not the first time that Angela wondered what she had gotten herself in. Despite knowing that it was a bad and reckless idea, she said “Lead the way.”

 

Max smiled and handed her a Combustor. “Here, in case we are seen, but I hope it doesn't come to that.”

 

They left the ship, and Max locked the cockpit while Angela noticed her attire. It was the same flight suit she had worn during the Protopet ordeal. “Round 2 I guess.” Angela thought grimly.

 

They pretty much clawed their way through the bushes hiding their ship, and when they finally emerged on the other side, Angela noticed several leaves sticking out of her ponytail. She quickly removed them, rolling her eyes, before following Max down a weathered path. Soon enough, a massive base came into view. Angela counted three major buildings, as well as several smaller ones. A few pirate ships drifted lazily between the buildings, while a vast network of power cables ran underneath. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Angela's left arm, and another covered her mouth to muffle her cry of alarm. Angela calmed slightly when she saw that it was Max, who had quickly pulled her into the bushes.

 

“The hell?!” Angela whispered angrily. Max brought his index fingers to his lips and pointed at a dot in the distance. Angela squinted, and saw a large pirate ship float down towards the massive pirate base. It slowed down the closer it got to the base, and slowly drifted towards the largest building of the complex.

 

Max focused on the boarding ramp, and noticed a bulky - no, a fat robotic pirate waggle down the boarding ramp, followed by a slimmer, significantly smaller pirate. What caught Max's interest most however, was the pyramid-shaped object held in the larger pirate's right hand - no, it was a claw of some sorts - a hook!

 

“Look!” Max whispered suddenly, making Angela jump. “Jesus!” she hissed. Max rolled his eyes. “You see those two pirates over there? Specifically that big one?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Do you also see the thing he's holding? That pyramid-shaped item?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“That's what we're here for.”

 

“Yikes.” Angela whispered. “How are we gonna get in?”

 

Max chuckled. “These pirates are nothing more than over-glorified walking buckets of liquor. When they design something, some serious design flaws are guaranteed. As you can see, back there there's a power cable leading into that big building - their treasure room. If we can get to that cable unnoticed, we should be able to climb in.”

 

“How do we get there though...” Angela mumbled, lost in thought. One would have been able to see the gears turn behind her eyes before they suddenly lit up. “I got it!” she whispered enthusiastically.

 

Before Max could stop her, Angela ran back to the ship. Max followed suit, wondering what the Lombax was up to. When he reached the ship, Angela was already impatiently waiting for him. As soon as he had unlocked the ship, Angela ran into the ship's spacious cargo bay and started digging through her belongings, before suddenly letting out a triumphant 'aha'.

 

When she walked out, she motioned for Max to close the ship. The Markazian did so, before following Angela back to the bushes they had hid in earlier. “Now, would you mind telling me your idea?” Max asked.

 

“I got this.” Angela said with a wide grin, showing Max a mask. “It's an old Megacorp disguise. I had to use it a long time ago. Since then, an upgrade for this thing came out, allowing me to scan and impersonate any creature as long as the battery lasts.”

 

“Nifty, so your plan is to scan a pirate, and use them as a disguise?” Max asked.

 

“Yeah. Problem is, it only works for one person. That is, unless we stay really close to each other at all times. That's gonna be a problem.”

 

Max sighed. “This is gonna be awkward.”

 

Five minutes later, a huge pirate revealed itself, before slowly treading down the path to the pirate base's outskirts. A pirate ship flew past, and the huge pirate immediately seized the opportunity. “Oi!” he yelled at the ship. “Could any o' ye lads ask the pilot to halt and extend the boarding ramp? I fell off me ship.”

 

“We got ya, matey.” one of the five pirates on deck said, and soon enough the huge pirate could scuttle up the boarding ramp. “Where are ye needed?” one of the pirates asked.

 

“I was on me way to the radio tower. Some wires need fixin', and others can't reach the blasted things.” the huge pirate replied, and soon enough the pirate was standing inside the radio tower. “Handy, when you speak their language.” the pirate mumbled. Because the mask was locked to Angela's bio-signature, only she could use it. Therefore they had agreed upon a rather uncomfortable, yet effective idea.

 

Angela had wrapped her legs around Max's waist, and her arms around his neck. She had then put on the mask, making them appear like a large, somewhat overweight pirate.

 

The large pirate that was Max and Angela in disguise walked to the other side of the deserted radio tower, and after a long walk they, at last, found themselves on the ship with the cable leading into the treasure room. “Wait.” Angela whispered into Max's ear, making sure nobody but him would be able to hear it. “What about that fat guy we saw enter? He never came back out.”

 

She couldn't tell if Max heard her or not. In any case, they had to wait until there was no pirate in sight. Fate seemed to smile upon them however, for a strong voice suddenly boomed through the speakers around the complex. “Ahoy mateys! To celebrate our latest series of successful raids, grog is, for the upcoming hour, totally free! Get some while the offer still stands, lads!”

 

“Didn't see that one coming...” Angela whispered. Max nearly burst out laughing. Soon enough the area was abandoned, all nearby pirates immediately heading to the pub built into one of the smaller buildings of the complex. When nobody was in sight, Angela disabled the disguise, and soon enough they were climbing the power cables to the treasure room.

 

When her head poked into the treasure room, Angela was nothing short of surprised. “Damn...” she whispered, taking in the sheer amount of gold lying around.

 

“I don't wanna know where they got it from.” Max mumbled. His eyes had already scanned the area for the big pirate that had brought the artifact in, and fortunately the pirate was gone. They quickly began to search the area for the artifact, digging through mountains of coins. “This is like a rich people's version of finding a needle in a haystack.” Angela mumbled.

 

Suddenly, her eyes caught a darker glistering among the shiny gold. “Max! Here!” she hissed, quickly making her way to where she had seen the glistering. True enough, it was the artifact they had been looking for, half-buried under a pile of gold. Max quickly dug it out. “Great!” he whispered. “Now, to activate it...”

 

Max let the artifact rest in his right hand as his eyes studied its surface. There had to be a secret to it, especially for a species as advanced as the Lombaxes.

 

While Max absentmindedly rubbed his chin with his left hand, trying to figure out the secret behind the cryptic message engraved into the artifact, Angela stared at said device. A piece of technology created by her people, so close. She was mesmerized by it, a relic of people she had always wanted to meet but never truly met.

 

Without even knowing it herself she slowly lifted her right hand and moved it towards the artifact. Max's eyes turned to Angela, but instead of acting, he waited. Angela's fingers gently brushed over the surface of the artifact, feeling the delicate engravings through her gloves. “It's beautiful.” she whispered.

 

“Lombax tech in a nutshell.” Max said with a knowing, yet sad grin.

 

Then Angela placed the palm of her hand on the artifact. Immediately the device reacted, floating up a few inches with a low humming. The top of the pyramid-shaped artifact folded open with a mechanical whirr before, in a golden glow, a hologram of a planet coalesced over the artifact.

 

“This is fantastic...” Max whispered in awe. However, the device's sudden reaction had startled Angela. She had jumped up with a yelp and had instinctively taken a step back. Her old nemesis called clumsiness kicked in once again as a coin made her slip, before she ungraciously fell backwards into a large pile of coins. Max barely had time to curse under his breath before the large piles began to fall over with a thundering crash, one that, judging by the immediate commotion outside, had not gone unnoticed.

 

When the gold finally settled, all remaining of Angela were two legs comically sticking out of the gold. Max immediately began to dig her out, throwing caution out the window as his shovel-sized hands clawed at the coins.

 

Soon enough Max began to panic. More and more commotion could be heard behind the door by the second, and judging by Angela's increasingly panicky movements she was less than a minute from suffocation.

 

Out of options, Max decided to just grab Angela's ankles and pull her out with a firm tug. She shot free on the third try, flying over Max's head and slamming against the wall behind him, before sliding to the ground. Judging by how her ears were lying flat against her skull, she had lost consciousness.

 

And then the door burst open, though the first pirate entering the room got a face full of Lombax artifact, stumbling backwards and falling into his comrades. The result was a heap of squirming robot pirates crushed by one another in the narrow hallway they had attempted to breach through.

 

With no time to waste, Max grabbed Angela under one arm before making a run for it. He used the power cables like zip-lines, moving from cable to cable more instinctively than he would admit.

 

As he bolted up the path to their ship, more and more furious screams could be heard coming from the pirate base behind them. When Max reached the bushes hiding their ship, he drew the machete secured to his belt before slashing his way through. As soon as he reached the ship, he opened the cockpit and sat Angela down in the passenger seat, before securing her seatbelts.

 

He wasted no time in taking place behind the wheel, starting the ship, and getting out of the atmosphere of Ardolis. Not as alone as he wanted to however, as several pirate ships began to take off after him.

 

Half an hour later, Angela finally awoke with some confused muttering. “No time to explain.” Max said through gritted teeth as he forced the ship into a sharp right turn to avoid a hail of gunfire coming from a pirate ship. “Just hold the hell on for now!”

 

Angela immediately cursed herself for waking up early as Max made a sharp turn around an asteroid way too close for comfort, making Angela yelp and dig her nails into the seat in fear.

 

Max quickly turned left afterwards, charging through a torus-shaped asteroid to lose the larger pirate ship tailing him, before hiding behind a larger asteroid. He quickly killed the main engines before maneuvering the ship to the nearest impact crater.

 

He pressed the ship against the asteroid, hiding it in the shadow of the crater rim. Both of the ship's occupants held their breath as the seconds ticked past.

 

Just as they thought they had lost their pursuers, three pirate ships came charging into view, quickly blocking any way of leaving, while a huge pirate ship came drifting to their position.

 

Max was forced to steer his ship into one of the huge pirate ship's docking bays, before they were forced to leave the ship, hands in the air.

 

An army of three hundred pirates awaited them, the fat pirate they had seen earlier clawing his way to the front. “Well, well, whadda we got here, lads?” he bellowed, some of the smaller pirates letting out an excited 'arrgh'.

 

“Ain't that that foolish Markazian explorer we robbed a coupla weeks ago?” the large pirate said, bringing his face closer to Max's. Max couldn't have punched him even if he wanted to, for a pirate held Max's hands behind his back. Another pirate was doing the same to Angela.

 

“Hello again, rustbucket.” Max spat back.

 

The large pirate laughed. “I'd hoped you'd have been smarter to try and beat Romulus Slag. It seems you aren't as clever as they say you are.”

 

Then the pirate, apparently named Slag, turned to Angela. He brought his face so close to Angela that she could feel the stench of alcohol coming from his mouth. She turned up her nose in disgust. “Good lord, the hell did you eat?!” she cried out. Slag reacted by drawing his hook across her left cheek. Angela yelped, and soon felt blood drip down her cheek. “The next time you raise your voice against me, I'll pick yer throat instead.” Slag warned, pressing the hook against Angela's neck to further pressurize his point.

 

Angela gave him a venomous look, but said nothing.

 

Slag chuckled to himself while running his good hand through the fur on Angela's right ear. “A Lombax alright, and in such fine condition too. Yeah, I reckon the Emperor will pay handsomely for your head.”

 

Slag then turned to the pirates behind him. “I want ten of ye to step forward.”

 

Ten pirates stepped forward. Slag grumbled approvingly. “Ya ten are tasked with keepin' an eye on these two prisoners. Try not to leave any marks if you can.”

 

Slag then turned to one of the largest pirates in the room. Towering over everyone else was a huge pirate. The pirate had two comically undersized legs, and relied on his left arm for support. His right arm ended in a massive cannon, and Angela silently prayed she wouldn't have to witness it firing.

 

“I want you in here as well.” Slag added, pointing his hook at the large pirate. “Aye, captain!” the pirate replied.

 

Slag nodded. “Alright, the rest of ya, move it. We're heading back to Ardolis.”

 

Soon enough, the docking bay was clear save for Max, Angela, the eleven pirates tasked with keeping them in check, plus the two pirates restraining them.

 

They were forced to stand, and soon Max began to tap against the floor with his foot. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

 

After a while it began to annoy Angela, that is, until she discovered a pattern. Three long pauses, then one long and one short et cetera. Angela recognized the communication method. It was an ancient sailor trick that only few still knew nowadays. Max was signaling 'On three coughs'.

 

He repeated it three more times before sighing. A few minutes after that (though it felt like ages to Angela) he coughed. Then a minute later, he coughed again. Angela prepared herself, and indeed, a few moments after the third cough, Max threw the pirate restraining him over his shoulder.

 

The pirate restraining Angela let out a cry of alarm, but the distraction loosened his grip on Angela's arms, and the Lombax was able to overpower him by forcing all of her weight into him. They crashed against the floor together, and before the pirate could react, Max had shot him in the face with the gun he had taken from the pirate he had floored seconds earlier.

 

Immediately the ten pirate guards began to close in on them. Max tossed her the gun. “Keep them off my back while I get the ship running again!” he shouted.

 

In response, Angela dove into the back of the ship. “The hell?!” Max shouted at her, immediately going defense mode as three pirates engaged him in melee combat.

 

“Just hold out there for three seconds, I got a plan!” Angela shouted, quickly digging through her belongings for one specific item. Another relic of a past she wanted to forget.

 

True to her word, three seconds later she came running back out, a hoverboard in her hands. “You think now is the right time for this?” Max cried out in fury upon seeing what she was holding. Angela ignored him, turned on the hoverboard, and stepped on.

 

It took her two seconds to find her balance again, after that muscle memory kept her airborne with ease. Pulling out the gun Max had tossed her, Angela shifted her weight on the board to strafe from side to side while taking potshots at the pirates. Max hit the deck, and Angela's bullets zipped past him, close enough to make his hat fly off. He quickly grabbed it and put it back on his head.

 

Meanwhile Angela's fire had forced the pirates attacking Max to retreat to a safe distance, although that didn't stop Angela from taking out two pirates.

 

Suddenly, she put pedal to the medal and charged forward, quickly spraying plasma in the faces of four pirates unfortunate enough to be in her way, before swiftly eliminating the remaining four, her unparalleled agility making her a huge threat.

 

Only the huge pirate remained. As soon as Max and Angela had broken free, the pirate had taken a position in the back of the small docking bay, his small eyes locked on to Angela. He readjusted his cannon, before firing a large cannonball at Angela. It came to a halt underneath her. “Missed me!” she taunted.

 

“Move!” Max yelled all of a sudden, and Angela instinctively dashed sideways, barely escaping harm as the cannonball detonated. Angela glared, and began analyzing her enemy as he fired a few more cannonballs. The explosive nature of said cannonballs gave her an idea.

 

As soon as the pirate fired another cannonball, she opened fire on the pirate's cannon-arm. Just as she had hoped, the cannonball detonated inside the barrel, triggering a spectacular explosion that tore the cannon-arm apart.

 

The pirate was not defeated however and, enraged, began swinging what was left of his arm at Angela. Angela reacted by dashing around the large pirate, using her hoverboard to outspeed him, while pumping plasma into him from all angles.

 

However, she had been so focused on her battle that she had forgotten why she was fighting in the first place, and a voice behind her suddenly reminded her. “Angela, we gotta move!” Max yelled. He was already in the cockpit, and the ship's engines roared to life. Angela immediately stopped fighting, making a sharp turn towards the ship. Realizing she was never going to make such an angle, she quickly decided to do something risky. She turned the hoverboard in mid air, holding on for dear life as it skidded across the wall before falling back down. Engines kicking in mid-descent, she was able to make a very sharp turn, before flying right into the back of Max's ship. Granted, she ungraciously smacked into the wall but, Max closing the ramp behind her with the push of a button before charging off into deep space, it was the fastest way of getting out of there.

 

They soon left the pirate ships far behind. Max even went as far as to fly into the rings of a nearby gas giant to further mask their escape, the ship indistinguishable from the chunks of ice beside it.

 

After a few minutes however, the ship began to stutter. Max cursed under his breath. “I think those pirates broke something.” he said to Angela, who was sitting in the passenger's seat again, having climbed out of the ship's large cargo bay. “Take the wheel for a moment, I'm going to check on the engines.”

 

“Aren't those outside the ship?” Angela wondered out loud as she took the steering wheel while Max climbed into the cargo bay.

 

“Generally, yes, but this ship's an exception.” Max replied, opening a few panels in the back, exposing the engines. “Yeah, I see what's up. Gimme a few to fix it.”

 

“We're nearing the edge of the Cerullean sector.” Angela informed.

 

“That's great! Look through the navigator, as soon as you find Rykan five among the listed planets, head to it at full speed.” Max said, his voice echoing from within the cargo bay. “Just make sure not to accelerate for my fingers' sake.”

 

“Got it.” Angela replied while Max worked on the engines. Soon enough the engines were fixed, though Max sat down on a few crates in the cargo bay to take a breather first, leaving Angela in charge of the ship a bit longer. Soon enough Angela put pedal to the metal, racing past the border of the Cerullean sector. She passed by a lonely on her way out though, and nearly slammed into it at full speed. The evasive maneuver threw Max around the cargo bay, and soon he took the steering wheel back.

 

Angela mumbled an apology and took the passenger's seat again, crestfallen.

 

A few hours later, a large, bizarre planet came into view. Angela frowned upon seeing it. She estimated it to be at least three times the size of Grelbin, and if the pizza-ish color scheme was anything to go by, several times hotter too.

 

“Rykan five.” Max said as if he could read her mind. “It's a high-gravity lava planet. Because it's such an inhospitable wasteland it is only used by traders and travelers. That is, unless your job is transporting molten rock.”

 

About a quarter of an hour later they entered Rykan V's hazy orange atmosphere. Max slowed the ship down significantly to avoid re-entry overheating before making laps around a set of islands. Angela noticed a spaceport in the distance, and asked Max why he didn't land there.

 

“It's because what we're looking for is easier to spot on foot.” Max mumbled. “That artifact gave not only the planet but also a set of coordinates. Problem is, the last digit was broken. Thus we have to scour this area in a ten mile radius.”

 

“What are we looking for exactly?” Angela asked.

 

“Anything that stands out. We're dealing with Lombax tech here, and if there's anything the Lombaxes were, it was tech-savvy.”

 

“What do you mean, 'were'?” Angela suddenly asked.

 

Max looked at her, sympathy in his eyes. “You don't know?”

 

Angela hugged herself. “I grew up in Bogon in isolation. I never knew my father, and my mother never told me anything about him, or about the Lombaxes in general. She always kept her mouth shut when it came to that, even if I asked her about it. When I was sixteen, she took those secrets with her into the grave.” she mumbled, staring out the window.

 

* * *

 

“I'll keep it at that for today.” Angela mumbled, still leaning against the wall. “It's getting late.”

 

“How can you tell?” Ratchet asked.

 

Angela let out a broken laugh. “Let's just say I've been here for a while. At this point I can guess when it's about-”

 

The massive cell door began to open with loud creaking.

 

“-dinner time.” Angela finished. “You're gonna love this.”

 

A Cragmite took a few steps in before emptying a bucket of water into the cell, and when Ratchet saw how much and what they were getting, he could feel his stomach do a backflip of disgust.

 

“Bon appetit.” Angela said as she fished a raw potato out of the water, while Lexi took a partially moldy apple, removed the bad parts with surgical precision before passing it to her daughter. Meanwhile Ratchet just watched, mentally nailed to the ground while, for the first time, noticing the scar that Slag's hook had left on Angela's cheek.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: The price

A few hours after 'dinner', the water level in the frigid cell finally began to drop, to the point where Ratchet could let Eileen climb off his shoulders. A few minutes later, without warning, the lights in the chamber suddenly turned off. "Well, g'night." Angela mumbled as she lay down on the cold, hard floor and closed her eyes.

 

Ratchet lay down as well, immediately feeling his back protest. " _ I'm sorry. _ " he thought to his spine, knowing very well that his back would hurt immensely tomorrow.

 

As he predicted, the next morning, his back was hurting constantly. For once, Ratchet was thankful when the cell was partially flooded again, because the cold soon made his body go numb.

 

Then, however, the cell door opened, and four Cragmites entered, two of them holding rifles. The ladder slid out of the wall. "You there." The left Cragmite said, aiming at Angela, who didn't even flinch. "Get up here. Time for your daily injection."

 

He then pointed his weapon at the other three Lombaxes in the room. "And don't try anything funny, you three. That is, unless you want to grant me the privilege of shooting you."

 

Angela climbed up the ladder, but when she was about to climb onto the raised platform at the cell entrance, one of the Cragmites put their rifle against Angela's skull. "That's far enough." he said, before one of the two unarmed Cragmites, a medic Ratchet guessed, stepped forward, holding a syringe. The size of the needle made Ratchet flinch, but Angela's expression didn't change in the slightest as the medic grabbed her arm before digging the needle into it. As soon as the medic removed the needle, Angela's face was introduced to a boot that sent her falling back into the water.

 

"You." One of the armed Cragmites said, pointing his rifle at Ratchet. "Here."

 

Ratchet climbed the ladder and, like Angela, was forced to hold on to the ladder as he, too, got an injection, from another oversized needle. Ratchet gritted his teeth as the needle dug into his skin, but other than that, it was better than getting shot with a bullet.

 

After Ratchet, Lexi and even Eileen were injected. Ratchet, however, kept his eyes fixated on the second unarmed Cragmite. The expression of said Cragmite was strange. Unlike his three comrades, this Cragmite didn't sport a smug grin. He wasn't focused on the Lombaxes at all. Instead the Cragmite's eyes roamed the cell door, a hand rubbing his chin in thought.

 

As if he could read Ratchet's mind, one of the armed Cragmites turned to this puzzled Cragmite. “Well, waddaya think, Xander?”

 

“ Hm?” Xander said, awaking from his thoughts. Realizing there were three pairs of eyes fixated on him, he quickly smiled. “Yeah, it'll hold. I don't see any kind of error in the execution of the design with this Lombax vault.

 

Soon the four Cragmites left but the door did not shut.

 

“ Let me see them.” an all too familiar voice said, and sure enough, emperor Percival Tachyon came striding into the vault, looking down on the four Lombaxes.

 

He had his arms crossed behind his back and his held head high, trying to radiate authority even though the emperor's diminutive size made that plan fail miserably to Ratchet. It was remarkable how such large, intimidating creatures loyally followed such a small thing.

 

Tachyon's deep golden eyes glared down on the four Lombaxes like a predator assessing its prey, slowly moving from Lombax to Lombax until they settled on Ratchet. Tachyon's lips curled into a smug grin. “Well, now that is a familiar face.” Tachyon said, putting little effort into masking the amused tone in his voice.

 

“ Tachyon.” Ratchet replied with no emotion. He wasn't going to give Tachyon that pleasure.

 

“ Is that all? Lost your tongue, hm? Well...” Tachyon said, leaning forward a little while his lips parted to reveal Tachyon's sharp teeth. “I'll fix that for you.”

 

“ And what is  _ that _ supposed to mean?” Angela asked, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

 

“ Silence, you pest. It'll be your turn later.” Tachyon said, pointing a digit at Angela, who rolled her eyes in reply.

 

“ Anyhow.” Tachyon said, turning back to Ratchet. “You better prepare for this Saturday. I plan on arranging a little...  _ meeting _ , between the two of us.” Tachyon said with an evil smile before turning around, walking off with a loud laugh. “I hope you're not too fond of your tail, Lombax!” he yelled over his shoulder as he exited the vault, before the door slid back into place. The ladder also slid into the wall again.

 

“ Who was that fourth guy?” Ratchet wondered out loud, remembering the strangely absent-minded Cragmite.

 

“ Cannon fodder.” Angela mumbled back before coughing. Ratchet didn't react. She coughed louder, and this time Ratchet understood that she was trying to get his attention.

 

Angela, without even flinching, let herself fall backwards into the water, disappearing into the water with a loud splash. She stayed underwater for several minutes, the occasional bubble escaping her lips and floating up to the surface.

 

Suddenly, Ratchet recognized a pattern, and suddenly he remembered the signal language Angela had mentioned in her story.

 

He knew the language, after Merdegraw Talwyn had pretty much forced him to learn the language, she would not let him leave with Qwark unless he knew it like the back of his hand.

 

“ Insider.” Angela spelled three more times before she came shooting out of the water with a loud gasp. “I love taking a morning dive. You should try it too once.” she said to Ratchet while she wiped the water out of her eyes. Ratchet understood the hint, Angela knew that the Cragmites were listening to their every word. She was trying to teach him a hidden way of communicating without any enemy knowing.

 

“ Maybe I'll take you up on that offer.” Ratchet said before submerging himself. Immediately the cold water bit at his skin, making him flinch. He forced himself to stay calm, before sending his own message in return. “How come?” he spelled.

 

“ You're right, it's refreshing.” he said when he stood up again.

 

Angela grinned and disappeared below the surface again. “You'll see.” she signaled back. When she resurfaced, she stretched her arms with a groan before moving over to the nearest wall, and letting her back rest against it. “So how's things outside of this flying hellhole?” she asked, crossing her arms.

 

Ratchet moved over to her. “It's under control. These Cragmites are toast. I've been in a fight that was, like, thirty to two hundred, and we still won. They keep boasting about their 'superior' technology, but the Lombaxes have the upper hand in this fight.”

 

Angela let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

 

 

Xander's mind was racing as he paced back and forth through the small room he called home. The room wasn't anything to brag about, it was about as large as an over-sized broom closet and counted only a bed. The bed wasn't more than a sleeping bag either though, according to his colleagues, he couldn't complain - he was lucky to have a room of his own.

 

“ At least you don't sleep with five other guys in one room. I swear some of those bastards are tryin' to get the snoring prize.” one of his colleagues had said to Xander over dinner, about a month ago. Only those holding high ranks in the military had the privilege of luxury rooms, rooms with a proper bed and wardrobe.

 

Nonetheless his room was big enough for Xander to pace back and forth in, his boots causing a slight metal 'clank' with every step he took.

 

There was only one thing on his mind: “ _ How am I going to get those four people out of here _ ?”

 

He had some ideas surely, but none were without flaws.

 

Xander was a 'filler', that basically meant that he was a jack-of-all-trades kind of Cragmite. He was assigned different tasks on a daily basis, it depended on what needed to be done that the experts had no time for. Therefore he had to get lucky if he wanted to be able to break the four Lombaxes out of their inhumane predicament.

 

Fate seemed to smile upon him however. After five hours of pacing back and forth, coming up with ideas and dismissing them just as easily, Xander decided to go take a walk to ease his mind.

 

He walked out of his room, he didn't even lock it. There wasn't anything valuable to be stolen, and besides that, theft was punished very heavily aboard the Cragmite mothership.

 

“ We must stand together against our enemy.” their emperor had said. “If we fight each other, we have lost. Therefore any act of theft, vandalism or pointless violence against another Cragmite will be met with harsh punishments. Don't make me make an example.”

 

Xander walked out of the Epsilon sector, where the sleeping quarters for the lower ranks were located. He walked across the countless catwalks that made up reactor sector Delta, before coming across the mess hall on deck four, and he realized that he hadn't eaten.

 

Any hunger he may have had vanished though when another Cragmite exited through the double doors. The Cragmite was, judging by their attire, of a much lower rank than Xander. Xander quickly studied the Cragmite's facial features, concluding that the Cragmite had likely just turned sixteen, the age at which young Cragmites were obliged to work.

 

Xander mentally shuddered, remembering his own days at the bottom of the social food chain. Judging by the expression on the young Cragmite's face, the youngster was not too pleased with his current occupation. He noticed a cart next to him . “Can I help you with that?”

 

“ If you want to, be my guest.” the youngster replied.

 

“ Alright then.” Xander said, grabbing the handle of the cart. “Deck 2 incinerator, right?”

 

“ You got it.” the youngster replied. 

 

While the youngster walked away, shaking his head, Xander began to set the cart full of moldy food in motion.

 

* * *

 

 

Max looked at her, sympathy in his eyes. “You don't know?”

 

Angela hugged herself. “I grew up in Bogon in isolation. I never knew my father, and my mother never told me anything about him, or about the Lombaxes in general. She always kept her mouth shut when it came to that, even if I asked her about it. When I was sixteen, she took those secrets with her into the grave.” she mumbled, staring out the window.

 

“ Oh, I... I'm sorry.” he mumbled. For a moment, both were silent, the only sounds being the howling of the strong wind as it tried to bring Max' ship out of balance, and the silent humming of the engines.

 

“ Would it help if I told you more about the Lombaxes?” Max suddenly said.

 

“ What happened to them?” Angela immediately asked. “And please, tell me the truth.”

 

Max sighed and stayed silent for a few seconds, not sure how he was going to tell her this.

 

“ They're dead.” he eventually said grimly. “All of them but you.”

 

Angela felt what little hope had remained shatter. “But... but... how?”

 

Max told her everything. Why she was being hunted. Why the Lombaxes were gone. Who Tachyon was. What they were on Rykan V for. By the end of it, Angela was hugging herself, tears silently rolling down her cheeks.

 

“ I'm sorry.” Max muttered. “There's no good way to break that news to anyone.”

 

Angela did not reply. Soon enough, Max's trained treasure-hunter eyes spotted a door hidden among the rocks of a nearby island, and he swiftly landed the ship. Angela climbed out of the ship and silently followed Max. She was still processing what Max had told her, and thus she didn't react until the third time Max said her name.

 

“ Hm?” Angela replied. Max was pointing at the symbols painted on the door. “Look at this.”

 

While Angela's eyes browsed through the symbols, Max began to read.

 

_ In this room a secret born _

_ To quell the angry Cragmite storm _

_ You've traveled far but to be clear _

_ Without a tail your quest ends here _

 

“ Fascinating.” Max whispered after he finished reading the poem.

 

“ 'Without a tail'? What does  _ that _ mean?” Angela said to herself. In response, Max chuckled. “You.” he said. “ _ You _ are the key, Angela.”

 

“ But I have no tail.” Angela replied. Only male Lombaxes had a tail.

 

“ It should still work.” Max said. “Try it anyway.”

 

Angela took a deep breath and slowly placed her right hand on the surface of the door. Immediately the door began to move. “Welcome, Lombax. We hope your journey was worth it.” a computer voice said overhead.

 

Angela slowly stepped into the room, while Max kept staring at the Lombaxian runes until the last ones had disappeared from view. The runes appeared strangely... rushed.

 

“ Curious.” he mumbled before joining Angela inside. He found her kneeling by a pedestal. “What... what  _ is _ this?” she asked, referring to the strange artifact resting on the pedestal.

 

“ I dunno.” Max replied, looking around before his eyes settled on an old projector. “ _ Strangely retro for Lombaxes... _ ” he thought to himself before turning it on. The device slowly came to life before it began playing its message. At the end of it, Angela was shaking her head. “No way,  _ this _ is the thing that banished the Cragmites? A  _ hat _ ?”

 

Max shrugged before picking up the artifact. “I've seen stranger Lombax creations.”

 

Suddenly, Max took off towards his ship. “Hey, wait!” Angela said, taking off after him. Behind her, the door slid back into place with a low rumbling.

 

* * *

 

 

“ After that we headed to Jasindu.” Angela explained, “There, I stayed in the ship while Max dropped off the artifact there. I don't know where he brought it, he just told me that he was going to get a friend to look after it. The artifact wasn't safe with us.”

 

Angela took a moment to stretch her sore arms before continuing. “After Jasindu... Max was talking about brining me to a place where I'd be safe - his home, a space station hidden in the Nundac asteroid ring. He even mentioned one 'Talwyn', and told me that she'd like me. We never arrived there though. We were ambushed by Cragmites, and Max made a run for it. He told me to hide inside the cargo crate with the label omega 4-1, and so I did. Little did I know that the fool was gonna dump all cargo above planet Lumos.”

 

“ How'd you survive?” Ratchet asked.

 

“ He dropped the cargo on a low pass over the terrain. He managed to trick his pursuers into believing that he dumped the cargo so he could speed up. The landing still hurt like hell though, in fact a Vullard family living nearby saved me. The father of the family carefully checked the crates for explosives of some sort, until eventually coming across the one I was in. I wasn't conscious, and was immediately transferred to a nearby hospital.”

 

Angela was interrupted by a loud creak coming from the cell door.

 

“ What the-?” Ratchet said. Everyone turned their attention to the large, bulky cell door.

 

* * *

 

 

Xander pushed the cart across the seemingly endless catwalks, before easing it into an elevator. He moved his index finger to the two, before moving it even further down.

 

When the elevator began to move, it moved all the way down to the same level as the prison blocks. Xander smiled, it was a good thing there were both a mess hall and an incinerator on this floor as well, and that his route, if he had started from the mess hall on this floor, lead past the cells.

 

Xander forced the cart to move out of the elevator, before immediately turning left. He pushed the cart through the first few cell blocks, before finally entering the Lombax wing of the holding cells. As expected, two armed guards were stationed outside the vault.

 

He let go of the cart, which came to a halt after rolling a few more feet. He walked over to the guards. “Ey lads, why are you two not on deck seven?”

 

The guard on the left scoffed. “Don't be daft, you know what we're protecting.”

 

“ I know, I know, but the emperor called for everyone to head up to deck seven. The medics found a virus that's been spreading around the ship. It has a long incubation period, but once it's all set up, it will cause a complete organ shutdown. One of those filthy Lombaxes probably brought it in with them, seeing as they are immune to it.” Xander lied.

 

“ Then why the hell are  _ you _ here?” the other guard asked.

 

Xander pointed at the cart. “All of that food is infected, and I have to get rid of it. I was one of the first diagnosed with the disease, so I already received a cure. I'm one of the few immune to it, so they asked me to get rid of infected food. But didn't you guys get the memo?” Xander asked, as if he was unaware of the fact that the intercom systems in this area had broken down two days earlier and had not been fixed.

 

“ No, intercoms are broke.” the guard on the left said. “But thanks for the heads up.”

 

“ C'mon, we better get the hell out of here.” he said to his colleague, while Xander suppressed the urge to grin.

 

“ But we can't leave the cell unguarded.” the guard on the right protested. “We were sworn to protect it with our lives.”

 

“ Lookie here, I know you're not the brightest bulb in the box so I'll spell it out for you. V, I, R, U, S. Disease, yeah? If we don't get our asses to deck seven and get ourselves checked, we might get more people infected. Besides, only a select few know the password to this vault, it'll be fine.” the guard on the left said.

 

“ Okay, I guess...” the guard on the right said before they walked off.

 

As soon as they were out of sight, Xander waited two more minutes, before hurrying over to the vault.

 

Xander had always had a desire to do engineering work. To Cragmites, the skill of an engineer was determined by the time they took to fix a problem - and memory. He had trained himself to memorize circuitry and, keeping the whole system in mind, find the cause of problems in the least amount of time possible.

 

He grinned, clearly remembering the entirety of the fifty-digit password that he had seen one of the guards enter hours earlier. His fingers dashed across the keyboard, before the door finally, slowly slid open. Xander hurried through the door as fast as he could, slamming his fist against a button built into the wall on the inside of the vault, causing the ladder to slide out of the wall.

 

“ Alright, you filthy rats, it's lunch time.” he said.

 

He could see the only male in the room glare daggers at him. “ _ I'm sorry, but I have to play my part. _ ” Xander thought. He had extended the ladder while the door was still opening to mask the sound. He quickly dashed out of the cell, grabbed a few moldy fruits from the cart, and threw them through the open vault door. He heard a loud splash from within the cell, as if food was being dumped inside as always.

 

Meanwhile, inside, Angela casually walked over to the fruit as if nothing was off, while Lexi and Ratchet were more on edge. Eileen was sitting on Lexi's shoulders, hands wrapped around her mother's neck.

 

Ratchet turned to Angela, and noticed in shock that she was climbing up the ladder. He and Lexi hurried over to the ladder as well. Ratchet went first, then Eileen, and lastly Lexi. As soon as he had reached the top, he noticed Angela casually walking through the vault door, as if she was strolling down the sidewalk of a street on a Sunday afternoon. Ratchet bolted after her, but spun on his heels the second his eyes noticed Xander, who was waiting by the cart of moldy food. Xander grinned at Ratchet, which Ratchet mistook for a cocky grin. With a primal-like growl, he charged at Xander and lunged at him.

 

Xander's eyes widened and he pressed himself against the cart in fear, but at the very last moment, Ratchet was pulled back by a firm tug on his tail. He lost his balance, and fell flat on the floor. “Oooow! What was that good for?!” he yelled at Angela who quickly covered his mouth to prevent him from making any more noise.

 

“ Shut up, you colossal idiot!” she hissed. “He's our ally!”

 

Suddenly, all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “Oh, I... I... I..” Ratchet stammered, climbing to his feet.

 

“ Later.” Xander whispered. “We need to get out of here before someone sees us. Hide in this cart.”

 

Ratchet's nose immediately protested. “Uuugh, why does it have to be moldy food?” he whispered.

 

“ Wait!” Angela hissed. “It's not big enough for all of us!”

 

“ I'm sorry, it's the best I could get.” Xander whispered back. His mind immediately ran a mile a minute, before an alternative idea formed in his mind. “Wait, I got an idea!” he hissed. He turned to Ratchet and Angela. “You two are not gonna like it though.”

 

“ Whatever, as long as we get out of here.” Angela replied before Ratchet could protest. She glared at said male Lombax, he'd messed up her plans one time too many.

 

“ Mother and daughter hide inside the cart,  _ now _ .” Xander immediately said, and without a word, Lexi helped Eileen climb in before jumping in herself. Because the cart was chuck full, Ratchet and Angela quickly dug some space, dumping the excess food into the now empty cell.

 

Lexi grimaced, had Eileen been able to speak, she would likely be whining about the smell. The fact that she was traumatized would end up saving them all.

 

As soon as Lexi and Eileen were fully hidden, Xander closed the vault as if nothing had happened. “Come, move!” he hissed, quickly forcing the cart to move. Ratchet and Angela helped him get the cart in motion, and soon enough they were moving through the hallways at a rapid pace. In his youngster years, he learned to memorize the hallway and catwalks littered throughout the Cragmite mothership. Because of this, he knew exactly where he was and where to go.

 

He lead Ratchet and Angela through the long, hot and dark corridors, Ratchet keeping up with relative ease while Angela, who was accustomed to colder environments, barely managed to keep up with them.

 

Suddenly, Xander stopped. “Here it is!” he whispered. He stopped the cart coming out of the wall. There was a cover with a large valve on top, which he immediately began to pull on. Ratchet helped him, while Angela took a quick breather.

 

As soon as the cover opened, Ratchet expected something to spew out of the pipe, but nothing happened.

 

Ratchet frowned. “What... what  _ is _ this?”

 

“ Bit of an explanation on how the water systems aboard this ship work.” Xander began. “Every once in a while a specially tailored ship flies out to harvest salt water from the oceans of nearby planets. This water is dumped into a large tank in the back of the ship, and is lead past the engines and reactors to cool them. A second tank aboard the ship holds the drinking water and, should this tank run low, salt water is pumped from the cooling circuit through a special set of filters into the tank holding drinking water. I know for a fact that the tanks were filled recently, so it's not likely that water will get pumped through this system. This is one of the pipes leading from the cooling circuit to the filters.”

 

“ Soooo...?” Ratchet said.

 

“ You're not gonna like this, but it's the only way to get past the Cragmites without detection.” Xander said. “You and your female friend over there are going to have to swim through these pipes. Three hunderd meters forward, then you'll come across a crossing. Go right there, and continue for one hundred more meters. There should be another entrance to the pipes just like this one. Wait there, in case I haven't opened it yet. It should lead you safely to an area near the docking bay.”

 

Xander gave Ratchet the flashlight secured to his belt. “Here. It's waterproof too. Good luck in there.”

 

“ How do I know you'll open it too, and won't let us drown in there?” Ratchet asked cautiously.

 

“ If I wanted to kill you I could've just left you in that cell.” Xander countered. “Now go, we don't have much time.”

 

Ratchet locked eyes with Angela, who cautiously stepped into the pipe, the water reaching up to her waist, and Ratchet followed suit.

 

“ Good luck, and don't die.” Xander said before Ratchet and Angela took a deep breath and disappeared into the pipes. Xander quickly closed the cover, looked around to confirm that they had not been seen, and then continued with the cart.

 

As he had predicted, he passed by several groups of Cragmite soldiers from that point onward, this area of the ship was also used for military drills.

 

When the squad of soldiers marched by, Xander smiled. They had absolutely no clue of what he was actually transporting.

 

He had to make haste though to make it to the rendez-vous point in time.

 

Meanwhile, in the pipe systems, Angela was swimming ahead, Ratchet closely behind. Ratchet shuddered in the cold water, while Angela seemed strangely at ease.

 

Ratchet ignored the ache in his lungs as he tried to keep track of the distance they'd covered.

 

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the crossing. Ratchet had missed it were it not for Angela's sharp turn to the right.

 

Ratchet covered his mouth with his free hand, the pipes were far too long, and he prayed for the exit to appear soon.

 

Suddenly, a sharp pain in his lungs caused Ratchet to let out a startled groan of pain. He dropped the flashlight and covered his mouth with his other hand. His mind was in panic mode as he tried desperately to keep the air in.

 

Fortunately, Angela had noticed. She turned around and forcefully grabbed his shoulders. Her eyes sent an unspoken message to his own. “ _ If you speak of this, I will personally remove your tail and hang you with it. _ ” they sent before Angela pressed Ratchet's lips against her own, and shared some of her air with Ratchet.

 

Shortly after, she released Ratchet, picked up the flashlight, and began to move once again. Ratchet quickly swam after her.

 

Suddenly, he noticed that a light turned on behind him. He turned around, and there it was.

 

A few feet behind him, there was a blast of light. The exit!

 

Ratchet quickly swam over to it before shooting out of the water with a loud gasp. Xander offered him his hand, and helped the soaked Lombax climb out. “Oooh man, that was way to close. What about you, Angela?”

 

Ratchet suddenly noticed that Angela had not come with him and, despite Xander's cry of alarm, Ratchet dove back into the pipes.

 

He swam in the direction he had seen Angela swim in, and soon enough there she was.

 

Angela was flailing wildly, struggling to keep the air in. Before Ratchet could reach her, she turned around. Her eyes were wide with panic. Ratchet reached out to her, and she reached out to him, but before he could reach her, Angela grabbed her throat as a stream of bubbles burst out of her mouth. Ratchet immediately pressed a hand against her mouth and wrapped his right arm around Angela. He quickly picked up the flashlight to light his way, and began to swim back.

 

He gasped for air as he climbed out of the water a second time, dragging a now frighteningly limp Angela with him. Xander quickly helped Ratchet lay her down on the ground.

 

“ Angela? Angela?! Angela answer me!” Ratchet frantically cried at her still form, but she said nothing. “Oh Zoni, what do I do?! What do I do?!” Ratchet said, panicking.

 

Ratchet heard a dull smack behind him, and saw Lexi throw another piece of moldy meat off her. She quickly clawed her way out of the moldy food and attempted to climb out, accidentally making the cart fall over with a clang so loud that it made Ratchet's ears ring.

 

Lexi immediately hurried over to Angela and rolled the Lombax on her side, before forcefully smacking Angela's back, between the shoulder blades. A small stream of water left Angela's mouth. Lexi quickly rolled Angela back and, by some miracle, she suddenly shot upright, eyes wide as dinner plates, with a loud gasp. Ratchet quickly helped her sit upright.

 

Angela was breathing heavily, staring at nothing as she came to her senses after her near-death encounter.

 

There was no time though. Behind them, they could hear commotion, as a group of Cragmites was heading to their position, trying to figure out what had caused that loud crash. Ratchet quickly tried to help Angela get up, but she fell back down immediately. “Angela, there's no time for this!” he warned.

 

“ She nearly  _ died _ , there's no way she can run!” Lexi said over her shoulder while she frantically dug her daughter out of the pile of rotten food.

 

Ratchet sighed. He picked Angela up bridal style. “Then we'll have to be creative.” he said whille Xander and Lexi finally managed to free Eileen. Xander helped Eileen get up on Lexi's shoulders and snatched his flashlight off the ground before bolting down the corridor. “Quick, follow me!”

 

Ratchet and Lexi ran after him. Soon, they came running into the hangar. The Cragmites inside the hangar immediately turned their attention to the four Lombaxes chasing a Cragmite, before letting out a loud scream. “What now?” Ratchet yelled over the Cragmite screams.

 

“ I dunno!” Xander said, counting the heads. “I expected there to be fewer of them!”

 

They were quickly surrounded and, Xander being the only one with his hands free, had no way to defend themselves.

 

Suddenly, a group of Cragmites standing in between them and a refueling shuttle scattered with loud screams of pain, a pool of blood forming where they had been standing. “What the?!” Lexi cried out.

 

“ Run!” Xander yelled immediately, and as one they made their way to the shuttle.

 

Ratchet quickly ran up the boarding ramp and breached the empty cockpit. He quickly put Angela down in the passenger seat before starting to mess with the switches, trying to get the ship started.

 

Xander came in after him, and quickly began to inform Ratchet on how to start the ship. Meanwhile Lexi had put Eileen down in a corner of the ship's cargo bay and had gotten down on her knees, using her body as a shield for her daughter.

 

She let out a cry of pain when she felt a bullet hit her in her right side. Then another to the thigh, and a bullet to her spine.

 

“ I'm okay... I'm okay...” she whispered into her daughter's ears. “We're getting out of here.”

 

“ There's too many!” Xander yelled, watching a whole squad of armed Cragmites climb aboard, with two more squads grouping up outside.

 

Lexi glanced over her shoulder, before planting a kiss on her daughter's forehead. “Be strong and brave for me.” she whispered before storming down the boarding ramp with fury. Her desire to protect her child had given her temporary superhuman strength it seemed, for she effortlessly grabbed a soldier's legs and spun him around, clearing the boarding ramp, before sending the Cragmite flying.

 

She charged down the boarding ramp and prevented anyone from reaching the ship's exposed entrance.

 

“ No!” Xander yelled as Ratchet got the ship started. The boarding ramp began to close before Ratchet realized what Lexi was doing.

 

“ Get aboard, run!” he frantically yelled. “I can't stop the ramp!”

 

Lexi turned around, a fine trail of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. “Look after my daughter for me...” she weakly said, locking eyes with Eileen one last time while an army of Cragmites began to surround her.

 

On autopilot, the ship began to rise, before shooting out of the hangar, setting a course for deep space.

 

“ She... she sacrificed herself...” Ratchet whispered, ears lowering as he sank into the pilot's seat.

 

Eileen was still staring at the boarding ramp and, for the first time in ages, her lips moved.

 

“ Mommy...”


	19. Chapter Nineteen: Hidden

The flight back to Tamrak took several hours, and during the flight, not much was said aboard the Cragmite shuttle. Xander had moved to the back of the ship and tried to keep Eileen busy, Ratchet was focused on getting everyone to Tamrak in one piece, and although Eileen hadn't responded to Xander at first, after two hours or so he managed to get her to open up to the point where he got her to play a game with him.

 

Despite the fact that her mother had likely been shot or worse less than a day ago, Ratchet couldn't help but smile when, for the first time, he heard Eileen laugh. It was a broken laugh, but it was a start. He didn't know how, but Xander managed to tear down - or at least weaken - the defensive walls that Eileen had built around herself.

 

Angela did very little throughout the journey. After her near-death encounter, she had been shocked and tired, and she was currently sleeping in the seat meant for the co-pilot. Her head was resting against the window, her wet hair hanging over her face, but she didn't care. Every few minutes Ratchet glanced at her still form to see how she was doing, and every time he let his eyes rest on her, he felt... strange. He felt a wave of sympathy and understanding every time he looked at her. As strong and steadfast as she had been in the vault, so weak and vulnerable she was now.

 

Ratchet understood her now. Although Angela had always been a strong personality, the attitude of a badass, relentless fighter was a coat she had reluctantly accepted for her own wellbeing, but deep down, he knew she hated it. When she had awoken from her close encounter with death, he had seen a new side of her. A side different from the tough attitude she had worn, and it had silently torn him a little.

 

He understood her now. She hadn't asked for any of this - getting hunted like an animal twice, once for stealing from her employer for the galaxy's sake, and a second time for just being a Lombax. It had forced her to harden despite her kinder nature. " _ I'm sorry. _ " he thought every time he looked at her, partially because of the crap she'd been through, and partially because of the crap she had yet to face.

 

At last, Tamrak's parent star came into view, growing from a dim dot in the distance to an almost blinding intensity. Sadly, Tamrak was on the other side of the star from their perspective, so Ratchet had to make a close pass. Fortunately the Cragmite shuttle was advanced enough to have windows that automatically compensated for the extra light.

 

Ratchet smiled weakly when he saw Tamrak in the distance, although the planet was still but a tiny dot. Only thirty more minutes.

 

Then, suddenly, Ratchet jumped when the alarms went off. It was an awful, blaring sound, that instantly invoked the desire to cover his ears within Ratchet, but he had to keep his hands on the controls. "What's happening?!" Ratchet cried out over his shoulder. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Angela had woken up too. For a we seconds she looked around in panic before she finally calmed a little.

 

"Missiles!" Xander yelled back in panic. "We're under attack!"

 

It was all Ratchet needed to hear, the gears inside his head suddenly joined together. He was under fire from his own teammates simply because they were unaware of the fact that this Cragmite shuttle was not in fact utilized by Cragmites. Well, one Cragmite, but probably the only Cragmite not hostile towards the Lombaxes.

 

Ratchet's eyes scanned the environment for the missiles, and he noticed the first missile not a second too late. A cluster of missiles approached them slightly from the right. "Hang on!" Ratchet yelled as he forced the ship into a sharp right turn. He barely avoided the barrage of missiles, but he didn't have time to rest, as the missiles turned mid-flight to chase the Cragmite shuttle. Ratchet put pedal to the metal to try to outspeed the missiles, but he knew that he couldn't outrun them forever. His eyes frantically searched through the stars for a solution until he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

 

A comet.

 

Ratchet immediately steered the ship towards the comet. He gritted his teeth, remembering his past experiences with flying into the tail of a comet. Aphelion had scolded him until he had fixed every single dent in her hull the last time he'd pulled such a stunt.

 

Right now however, it was their only chance. Ratchet grinned when he guessed the size of the comet, and concluded that it was more than large enough to help. Despite the cry of alarm coming from both Xander and Angela, Ratchet forced the ship into a steep dive into the icy canyons covering the comet.

 

Not a moment too soon either it seemed, for the first few missiles slammed into the cliff walls just behind Ratchet. There was still a large amount on their tail, however.

 

Ratchet tried his best to lose as many as possible, diving behind chunks of ice at the last moment or flying into another canyon, until he found himself cornered. Pressing on would mean flying into the tail, which would deal significant damage, but he was out of options.

 

“Hang on, this is gonna sting!” Ratchet warned, before steering the ship into the tail. Immediately the hull was exposed to a barrage of ice particles, but fortunately the shielding systems took the brunt of the attack. The missiles also met a hailstorm however, and soon enough there were no missiles left. Ratchet quickly steered the battered ship out of the comet's tail and let out a sigh of relief.

 

Xander had been holding on to the doorframe for dear life, and was looking more pale than ever.

 

“I... I think I'm gonna throw up.” he mumbled in discomfort. Eileen seemed strangely unaffected, but then again she'd been through worse situations.

 

Angela was staring out the window, eyes the size of dinner plates, and her nails were digging into the leather of the seat. She was also gritting her teeth, and she was breathing heavily. “My goodness, even your  _ flying _ is reckless!” she eventually stammered.

 

“You're welcome.” Ratchet jokingly replied as he began to fly back to Tamrak, but with much more caution. Because missiles had been sent after them, he was certain that they were being watched closely, and thus Ratchet suddenly changed direction, much to the protest of both Xander and Angela. He began to fly in a strange pattern, and it took Angela a few minutes to figure out what he was up to.

 

“You're writing something, aren't you?” she asked, having memorized the pattern.

 

“M-hm.” Ratchet replied as he forced the ship into a sharp right turn.

 

* * *

 

 

“Status?” Oort asked as everyone in the improvised command center was hard at work. An unidentified vessel had entered Tamrak airspace, and after some research, it turned out to be a Cragmite vessel. Thus Oort had given the order of shooting it down.

 

“Missiles failed, sir.” one of the Lombaxes operating the control center replied.

 

“What?! How?!” Oort replied in disbelief.

 

“It seems we've underestimated the pilot, sir.” another Lombax replied. “Their flying skills are impressive at the very least.” the Lombax added before displaying the flight path of their target on the largest monitor. Oort noticed how the ship had dodged the missiles before utilizing an asteroid field to get rid of the attack entirely. But something was off.

 

“Wait, what?” Oort mumbled as he watched the ship suddenly change direction. “What's with that pilot?”

 

“Beats me.” another Lombax said. “Maybe the pilot is having a seizure?”

 

“They're Cragmites, they would've just shot him then probably. No, there's something else...” Oort replied. He watched as the pilot forced their ship into strange loops and turns before everything suddenly clicked.

 

“Display the flight pattern as lines please. Show me wherever he's been.” Oort ordered, and soon enough a green line appeared on the monitor, following the ship's trajectory.

 

Oort couldn't believe it. “Call them, now!” he immediately ordered.

 

“Sir, with all due respect, it would give away our position.” one of the Lombaxes warned.

 

“Stand down, I think we can trust them.” Oort replied with a smile as he, for the fifth time, reread the word that was now visible on the monitor.

 

_ William _

 

Oort chuckled. “Ratchet, you clever boy.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Incoming call.” Angela suddenly said. Following Ratchet's instruction, she had been monitoring the comms.

 

“Patch it through straight away.” Ratchet replied immediately.

 

“How?” Angela replied. “It's not like I'm a Cragmite tech expert!”

 

“Hang on, I got it!” Xander said who, after having heard the conversation from within the loading bay, had quickly made his way to the cockpit.

 

“Stop when there's only one button left to press.” Ratchet warned.

 

“Why?” Xander asked in genuine curiosity as he worked on creating a stable channel.

 

“Just trust me.” Ratchet replied, gritting his teeth as he forced the ship into a harsh turn to avoid smashing into an asteroid. Xander frowned at that, feeling somewhat uncomfortable about being left in the dark.

 

“Alright.” he finally said. “Now you only have to press that button.”

 

“Before you do that,” Ratchet said quickly, halting Angela who had already reached for the button. “Cuff yourself.” Ratchet then said to Xander.

 

Xander frowned. “What?!”

 

“We must act as if you are our prisoner.” Ratchet clarified. “I like it as much as you do, but those guys are very trigger-happy right now. The only way you won't get shot on sight is if you present yourself as a prisoner. I'll defuse the situation as fast as I can, but until then you must remain handcuffed for your own safety.”

 

Xander sighed. “Okay, I get it.”

 

Xander disappeared into the back. Ratchet then nodded to Angela, giving her the go-ahead.

 

Angela nodded and pressed the button. Immediately the monitor built above the windshield turned on, displaying the interior of what Ratchet assumed to be the base on Tamrak's moon, if the half-finished and hastily set up interior was any indication.

 

Oort stood in the center of the screen, arms crossed and a neutral expression, ready to either smile or frown. As soon as his eyes met Ratchet's, he did the former. “I cannot even begin to describe how relieved I am to see you again, and in one piece too.” Oort said.

 

“Likewise, general.” Ratchet said, leaning back in his seat.

 

Oort then turned his attention to Angela, who was awestruck, knowing she was less than an hour away of being reunited with her species after living separated all her life. It used to be a shared sentiment between her and Ratchet, and she was happy to see it go. “And who's this?” Oort asked Angela. “No offense but I've never seen you before.” he quickly added.

 

“Sad to say that that's mutual, general.” Angela replied with a nod, remembering how Ratchet had addressed the man. “I'm like Ratchet when it comes to the amount of time I've spent in the presence of another Lombax.” she explained.

 

Oort's expression darkened. “You were also left behind.” he replied more like a conclusion than a question. Angela nodded in response. “Well, there is one thing I can guarantee you - unless you're a criminal, we'll welcome you with open arms.” Oort said, replacing his sour expression with a warm smile. “I would ask you to tell me a little about yourself before returning the favor, but there's no point in such long-distance small talk when it can also be done face-to-face and what the heck was that?” Oort said. True enough, a bizarre sound had come from the loading bay.

 

“Xander?” Ratchet yelled over his shoulder.

 

“Puke!” Xander yelled from the back of the ship.

 

Ratchet turned to Oort. “Excuse me for a second.” Oort nodded in response. Ratchet quickly climbed out of the pilot's seat and made his way to the back of the ship. He found Eileen sitting on a crate, looking rather pale. Xander was kneeling down next to her, his left hand on her back. “You okay?” he asked Eileen, who only nodded 'no' in response.

 

“What happened?” Ratchet asked. Xander shrugged. “I dunno, she just puked all of a sudden.”

 

“Ratchet!” Angela yelled from the cockpit. Ratchet hastily made his way back. “Yeah?”

 

Angela was sitting hunched over, her left hand pressed against her stomach. Her ears were flat against her skull and she, too, was looking pale.

 

Then Ratchet felt it himself. A growing, nauseous feeling.

 

“General.” Ratchet said immediately, turning to Oort. “Do not let us land. Do  _ not _ send any kind of escort team unless they have hazmat-suits. It seems all of us on board, with one exception, have fallen ill. If we land, it's likely to spread like wildfire.”

 

Oort smiled. “It's probably nothing but a flu, Ratchet. Nothing some Nanotech can't fix.”

 

“I dunno.” Angela piped up. “I was feeling fine seconds ago, and then surprise: nausea.”

 

She sat up straight, but Ratchet saw that it took her quite a lot of willpower. “General, I am, well, I used to be a geneticist. IE, my job involved analyzing genetic material. If I can isolate the cause of this illness I should be able to figure out what we're dealing with.”

 

Oort frowned. “Why would that be relevant?”

 

Angela smiled weakly. “Well, we just came from a Cragmite mothership. I wouldn't be surprised if those bastards gave us a little parting gift. I just want to be certain that it's not a dangerous disease before we have the risk of infecting healthy individuals.”

 

Oort nodded. “I see. What do you need for this analysis?”

 

Angela chuckled. “Got a notebook lying around, general?”

 

And Angela indeed summed up quite a list. Some of the items required were actually quite expensive.

 

“I don't know if we have the finances for that.” Oort said, rubbing his chin in thought. “Operation Lima Charlie Hotel is a Lombax government initiative, but we're not going all in on it. We don't have the full Lombax economy backing us. Although the government is more than willing to support the operation, there is only so much they can afford to spend. I hope that makes sense.”

 

“It does, general.” Angela replied. “However, every device that I summed up is absolutely crucial.”

 

“I have no doubts.” Oort replied. “But like I said, I doubt I can pull this off.”

 

“Then  _ I _ will pay for it.” Ratchet said.

 

“You're willing to cough up roughly two million bolts?” Oort said in utter disbelief.

 

“General, if there is any risk that we'll infect all other Lombaxes, then that risk is too great. The risk alone makes the investment worth it.” Ratchet said, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. Then he remembered that, as if by some cruel irony, he had once said something similar about risks to another general.

 

“A wise and respectable decision.” Oort said. “However, as you can imagine, I do not have access to your bank account.”

 

“Tal and Clank do.” Ratchet replied.

 

“Speaking of Clank...” Oort said, remembering something. “Hold on just a sec.”

 

Oort then left the room. Three minutes later, Ratchet could hear the familiar metal klinks that were Clank's footsteps. Soon enough the robot himself came running into the room, and his face brightened significantly when he saw Ratchet.

 

The two friends talked for an hour before Oort returned. “Good news.” he said. “Captain Apogee and I have managed to purchase the required machinery. We have in fact pinpointed your location, and a team of experts is on their way to deliver. In fact, we've done things a bit differently. We're sending a ship your way using remote control. You should be able to park the Cragmite ship inside it. This bigger ship is equipped with the required machinery.”

 

“Awesome!” Angela replied.

 

* * *

 

 

True to Oort's word, a few hours later the ship had arrived. Apparently Talwyn had pulled some governmental strings to get the machinery ready with haste, which is why Angela got ready to start straight away. She quickly made her way to the lab, Ratchet following her, while Xander stayed behind to look after Eileen.

 

“Alright.” Angela said, sitting down on a movable chair near a desk. “Ratchet, I'm going to need your help. I need you to hand me whatever I ask for.”

 

With Ratchet's help, Angela was able to isolate the cause of the disease pretty quickly, and soon enough she was staring through a microscope. Suddenly, she let out a massive curse.

 

“You okay?” Ratchet asked.

 

“No. It's a virus.” Angela clarified. “I was hoping for bacteria. Viruses are so annoying to cure because they are quick to shuffle their genes.”

 

Angela worked fast and efficient, and after a day of hard labor (which took a heavy toll on the two ill Lombaxes) Angela had pried open a virus and gathered the genetic data inside. That's where the big machines came into play.

 

Angela made her way to the biggest machine of them all, but halfway through, she stumbled. Ratchet was quick to catch her, but the test tube containing the DNA slipped from her fingers and shattered on the metal floor.

 

“Fuck. That was half a day of work.” Angela mumbled.

 

“What now?” Ratchet asked.

 

Angela grinned. “I'm not stupid, Ratchet. I made sure to keep a backup.”

 

And true enough, about an hour later, Angela had managed to isolate the genetic material a second time. Ratchet supported her on her second journey to the largest machine. This time, she managed to reach it, and entered the genetic material. Immediately the machine began to process the data, and soon enough the wall-mounted monitor turned on, displaying a long string of characters. Ratchet stared at it, but all he saw was a long combination of A's, T's, C's and G's.

 

To Angela however, it was clear as daylight. She printed the result and got to work immediately, grabbing a pen that Talwyn had ordered to be left on the desk. Angela worked frantically, highlighting sections of the code while scratching out others.

 

“You okay?” Ratchet asked. She didn't reply until two minutes later. “I'm gonna pull an all-nighter on this.” she answered. “Just leave me alone for now, I need to focus.”

 

Ratchet didn't move at first. “You deaf or something? Go!” she eventually snarled, and he left. Angela immediately got back to work, working through fifty sheets of paper filled entirely with the four characters of life.

 

The next morning, true to her word, she was still working. Ratchet slowly opened the door to check on her, careful not to wake her should she have fallen asleep, but she was still going. Like a machine, Angela's hand dashed across the papers.

 

“Any progress?” Ratchet asked.

 

“Almost done.” Angela replied. “Just ten more sheets.”

 

“Don't push yourself, man.” Ratchet muttered before leaving again.

 

Angela raced through the remaining papers and at noon, at long last, she was finished. She stood up, but because her legs were asleep combined with sickness and natural clumsiness, it was a recipe for disaster, and indeed, she fell with a loud crash. Within a minute the lab door swung open and Ratchet entered. “Everything alright?”

 

“Yeah, yeah...” Angela mumbled, forcing herself to stand up despite wanting to fall asleep. “I'm done.”

 

Ratchet noticed the way she was blinking. She was fighting to stay awake. “Are you sure you don't need some rest?”

 

“I can sleep when I'm dead.” she replied. “Also... I'm sorry for snarling at your earlier. I'm not the happiest when I'm busy.”

 

“That's alright. Now, what do you have?” Ratchet replied.

 

Angela showed him a sheet of paper that she had scribbled full of names. “These are the proteïnes that this virus produces. I'll spare you the nerd stuff, but I know how this bastard of a virus works. First off, it's genetically engineered, because it will only react to a Lombax. All other species cannot be infected. Secondly, it works in a rather evil way. Once it has infected a Lombax, it will do absolutely nothing but multiply. The host won't even know that they've been infected until the virus reaches a critical amount. At that point, the second stage begins. The virus will start causing symptoms such as nausea and dizziness to mask itself as a simple flu virus. The main point of this stage is spreading. Simply coughing will spread the virus through the air. You heard that right - spread through the air. Simply breathing in the air near a stage-2 infected will make you contract the disease.”

 

“It can't be just a flu virus.” Ratchet said.

 

“You're damn right.” Angela grimly replied. “I've seen a lot of microbes, but never a virus as sadistic as this one. We've just entered stage 2, but in a few days, we'll enter stage three - the final stage. You better brace yourself for this - in a matter of hours the virus will have reached a point where it will truly attack. When that happens, it will begin to permanently shut down the organs of an infected individual, resulting in total organ failure. At that point, death is guaranteed.”

 

“What about Nanotech?” Ratchet asked.

 

Angela chuckled. “I wish that Nanotech could help us. No, Nanotech will fill in parts of the body where cells are missing, it lacks the capability to differentiate between a normal cell and an infected cell. And because a virus doesn't necessarily kill cells...”

 

“Crap.” Ratchet replied, frowning in thought.

 

“Yep. I wonder though, how could we have contracted it?” Angela wondered out loud.

 

“The injections.” Ratchet immediately replied, all of the pieces suddenly falling into place for him. “The injections must've contained the virus, plus a cure to keep it dormant.”

 

“So if we were to escape, the virus would certainly kill us!” Angela replied, suddenly getting his train of thought.

 

“But can you cure it?” Ratchet asked. “I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on dying.”

 

“You bet I can cure it. I must say whoever constructed this virus is an amateur, but I digress, I can cure it but it would take too much time. Ignoring the fact that I don't have the equipment to fabricate medicines, it'd take me at least a week, and I don't think we have that long.”

 

“How long would you guess?” Ratchet asked.

 

“Three days at best.” Angela replied grimly. “But I have a plan.”

 

Ratchet smiled. “I'm all ears.”

 

Angela motioned for him to step closer, and he did. She grabbed one of the sheets of paper full of DNA, and pointed at a section that she had highlighted. “This part of the DNA ensures that the virus only functions inside a Lombax, otherwise the virus cannot survive. However, due to the nature of viruses, I'm certain that it'll adapt to be able to infect other species. I'm also certain that, whoever made this virus, must've known this.”

 

She grabbed another sheet. “Look here. This part of the genetic code seems some kind of killswitch. While I can't create a medicine to target this killswitch in time, I'm certain that the Cragmites must have a warehouse of this stuff somewhere, for safety reasons. Likely at the same site where they constructed this virus.”

 

“But that could be anywhere!” Ratchet replied.

 

“Exactly, and that's why we must hurry.” Angela replied. “Call that general and get him up to speed. Although I'm certain that I can't find the answer in time, I'll give making a cure a shot, though I can't make any promises.”

 

“I know, but thank you anyway, Angela. I'll contact general Oort right away.” Ratchet said before leaving the hastily set up lab.

 

“Oort's his name?” Angela wondered out loud after Ratchet had left.

 


	20. Chapter 20: Quarantine

When Talwyn caught wind of Ratchet's survival, she immediately left for Tamrak despite everyone's protests, and came hurrying into the control room while Ratchet was explaining Angela's findings to Oort. Ratchet paused the second he noticed her. “Hey, Tal,” he said sheepishly, smiling at her.

 

Talwyn let out a huge sigh of relief. “I cannot begin to describe how glad I am,” she said.

 

“With all due respect, Captain Apogee, Ratchet was explaining something to me of crucial importance. For the safety of the entire galaxy, we cannot let them land,” Oort said.

 

“What?” Talwyn asked. “And have them starve out there?”

 

“Ratchet, could you please repeat your explanation?” Oort asked.

 

Ratchet nodded. “Tal, we've found out about something terrible. Apparently the Cragmites injected us with some kind of super-virus. We have but a few days to live before it'll cause our organs to shut down one by one. What's worse - it's super infectious but can only infect non-Cragmite organic life.”

 

Talwyn was speechless. Noticing the color drain from her face, Oort quickly grabbed an unoccupied seat and placed it behind Talwyn, who sat down with a muffled “Thanks.”

 

“So... what now?” Talwyn asked, not even trying to hide the fear in her voice.

 

“I have an old friend on board who is working on a cure, but she doubts that she'll succeed in time. She did tell me something interesting though: viruses are very eager to mutate, and thus it is likely that, at some point, the virus will mutate to attack Cragmites as well. Anyone with enough knowledge of genetics to create a virus should know this fact. Because of this, she suggests finding the source of the virus. The place of its creation, so to speak. She expects the Cragmites to either have a cure there, or the machinery to synthesize it,” Ratchet explained.

 

Talwyn stayed silent, parsing all of this new info, whereas Oort's mind was racing. “But where would that place of creation be?” Oort mumbled to himself, rubbing his chin in thought.

 

“That's the problem,” Ratchet said.

 

“I think I know!” a new voice suddenly said on Ratchet's end, and Xander hastily made his way into the room.

 

“Cragmite!” Oort yelled, trying to alert Ratchet.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Ratchet cried out whilst dashing in between Oort and Xander, causing everyone to fall silent. Ratchet took a deep breath. “General, this Cragmite helped us escape. I cannot stress this enough - he is not hostile,” he explained.

 

“My name is Xander, sir,” Xander said, smiling nervously.

 

Oort and Talwyn stayed quiet, stunned, before Talwyn eventually cleared her throat. “Well, erm... Thank you, Xander,” she stammered.

 

“My pleasure, ma'am,” Xander replied. “As I was saying, I may know what facility you seek,” he added.

 

“Please do tell us,” Talwyn replied.

 

Xander nodded. “Well, back at the mothership, I caught wind of the Cragmites having captured another planet in Solana: planet Daxx. While there, they managed to find an old factory. Said they found plans of a super weapon there, a bi-o-bit...”

 

“Biobliterator?” Ratchet tried.

 

“That, yes, thank you,” Xander replied. In response, Ratchet turned paler than he had been. “You okay?” Xander asked, noticing the aforementioned change in color.

 

“I know that place,” Ratchet replied. “Tal, I'm about to send you a series of coordinates. Send the best people you got and send them fast.”

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Tachyon kept his eyes focused on the doors of his throne room, waiting. Occasionally his eyes would flick to the clock resting on his desk, and his frustration would grow.

 

At long last, the massive doors slid open, and a large, bulky Cragmite entered. A vicious scowl formed on Tachyon's features as the Cragmite drew closer. As last the Cragmite reached the throne and bowed before his emperor. “You called for me, my emperor?” the Cragmite asked.

 

“Far too long ago I did,” Tachyon replied, a sarcastic tone lacing his words. “Forgive me, my emperor, but it was of indescribable importance that I finished carrying out orders before coming to see you,” the Cragmite replied.

 

“I can assure you Lieutenant, I am of far more importance than anything that comes under your radar. If you value your life, I strongly suggest you report to me at the times I damn well ordered you to. Is that clear enough for you?”

 

The Lieutenant quickly saluted. “Y-yes my emperor. It won’t happen again.” Tachyon calmed, but the smaller Cragmite waved off the Lieutenant’s salute. “State your team's progress,” he commanded, leaning forward in his seat.

 

The Lieutenant gave a shaky smile. “I have taken the liberty of capturing some images for you, my emperor,” the Lieutenant began before causing a hologram to display over his left hand. “As you can see, the project is nearing completion. Estimated remaining time is in the hours.” An evil grin split Tachyon’s face. “Wonderful, Lieutenant. Inform me once the project has been completed. Dismissed.”

 

As soon as the Lieutenant had left, Tachyon chuckled. “Porem!” he yelled over his left shoulder, and a thin, yet tall Cragmite hastily entered the room. “Yes, my emperor?”

 

“Behold,” Tachyon replied before his hand moved to the corner of his desk, where an item stood, covered up by what looked like a purple handkerchief. Tachyon suddenly removed it, revealing a clock like the other one standing on his desk, except this clock was counting down.

 

6:15:01… 6:14:00… 6:14:59

 

“This is the precise amount of time that those escaped Lombaxes have left before our virus eliminates them,” Tachyon explained smugly, standing up and crossing his arms behind his back as he stared down on the clock, before getting off his throne and walking around it. Porem followed him, the large Cragmite rubbing his claws together.

 

“It’s quite a shame though… I would give anything to see them in their final minutes, grasping for the precious life they dared to waste fighting against me.”

 

“I presume everything is going to plan, my emperor?” Porem asked, knowing that his emperor loved to recap their progress towards the second era of the Cragmites. Tachyon chuckled in response before turning to face his servant. “Indeed, my most loyal one.” He turned back around, Porem immediately trailing behind the emperor. “They have no idea what they'll be up against,” Tachyon replied darkly.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Oort, Talwyn and Clank stood in silence in the Tamrak lunar control room as they watched the drop ship leave Tamrak's system on the computer monitors. The little dot on the screen moved further and further away and got fainter and fainter before disappearing entirely.

 

Suddenly, they received an incoming call from the drop ship. Oort ordered for it to be patched through straight away. Kepler appeared on the monitor, Taylor and Webb behind him. They were holding on to an overhead railing to ensure they wouldn't fall as the craft shuddered lightly every few seconds or so.

 

“Watchman, we've left Tamrak's system,” Taylor reported. “Anything we need to know before we land?”

 

“As a matter of fact, Ratchet has sent over some more details, and Clank has been able to provide a map of the facility - at least, as it once was,” Talwyn replied before uploading the map Clank had produced from his data-banks.

 

“This is what the facility looked like back when Ratchet and Clank infiltrated the complex. They were sent there by order of major Phyronix, so I'll leave the word to her,” Talwyn said before Sasha was added to the call.

 

“Thank you, captain Apogee,” Sasha began. “Alright, so first off - you may face some very, very heavy resistance in there, as the facility you're heading to is an old production site, once created and used by an evil mastermind known as Dr. Nefarious, whose current whereabouts are unknown. The chances of him being a Cragmite ally are slim though, and that's why I expect his blueprints to have been stolen.”

 

Sasha cleared her throat before continuing. “Back then, Nefarious had created a massive contraption called the Biobliterator. Based on the info we have, there is a chance that the Cragmites are reviving this old project, which would be disastrous. The original design of the Biobliterator was to be a device capable of converting any organic life form into a robotic counterpart, although the second iteration of the project was also capable of transforming itself into a massive mech. It took Ratchet a lot of effort to bring it down, even when using a Ranger hovership, so be prepared for anything. Good luck, people,” Sasha said before she disconnected.

 

“You heard her,” Oort said. “You may be up against something several times your size. Be prepared, both mentally and physically.”

 

Taylor laughed. “I have the biggest gun anyone can carry, we'll be fine.”

 

Talwyn chuckled, making Oort raise an eyebrow. “Just be careful. Valkyrie and Watchman, out,” Talwyn added to Oort's statement before they broke the connection. The ship would be entering radio silence soon.

 

“Why'd you laugh at Taylor's statement?” Oort asked.

 

Talwyn laughed again. “Oh, he knows nothing. I've seen that minigun he's bragging about - Ratchet has a far more powerful weapon up his sleeve.”

 

“Then why hasn't he used it?” Oort wondered out loud.

 

“The ammunition is absolutely monstrous in terms of price. He's saving the ammo for when he really needs it,” Talwyn explained. Oort laughed as well. “Oh, I can just imagine the looks on the faces of Taylor and Kepler when Ratchet pulls out that weapon then.”

 

Suddenly, they got a call from Sasha.

 

“That's odd,” Talwyn mumbled while Oort had it patched through. Sasha appeared on the monitor. “Captain, we have a serious problem.” Sasha began with an undertone of hopelessness.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

After a few hours of radio silence, planet Daxx finally came into view. It was a wonderful blue orb with seas stretching far and wide. Islands occasionally interrupted this blue blanket, most of them sporting steep cliffs while a few were sandy in coastal nature.

 

The shuttle plummeted straight into the atmosphere, braking until it eventually met the ocean. Contrary to most ships, this shuttle let itself fall into the water, disappearing below the waves.

 

Using the ocean as a cover, it began to approach the old factory.

 

“Alright, guys,” Webb said to her fellow squad leaders as she slammed a piece of paper against the wall. “Here's my idea for this mission.”

 

Kepler noticed it was a sketch of the map Clank had produced. “We push left here,” Webb said, pointing at the docks at the back of the facility, “and then we use this access to the air ventilation systems to spread a thick mist through the facility.”

 

“I see, and then use the echolocation feature built into the PM-8 suits, combined with the infrared that the PM-7 has,” Taylor replied. “We can use our armor's data links to sync what we can see to all team members. Echo - and even sonar, I forgot the PM-8 has that too - will be the best solution, due to the cold-blooded nature of Cragmites they are nigh invisible in IR.”

 

“Is everyone agreed upon this strategy?” Webb asked.

 

“Let's roll 'em,” Kepler replied. “You're in, Tay?”

 

Taylor laughed. “I’m gonna crush them harder than a troglosaur on a potato.”

 

“Alright then,” Webb said with a grin. “Let’s get some revenge for Ratchet and his friend.”

 

Kepler was about to remind her that they had also used bio-weaponry against a mother and her young daughter, but bit off his tongue. Reminding her of that would likely send her into a fit of rage, out of the sheer injustice of the vile act, which wasn't what any of them needed right now.

 

Kepler sighed. They were all angry about this new piece of information, but keeping that anger suppressed for the sake of thinking clearly was going to be challenging.

 

Shortly after, the drop ship came to a halt in the cover of an island not far from the facility. All Praetorians grouped up in the back of the ship, before the doors were sealed behind them. Ahead of them, the boarding ramp slowly opened, flooding the area with water. Fortunately, all Praetorians had sealed their armor beforehand.

 

“You okay, Luna?” Tank transmitted on a private channel after the room had been flooded.

 

“M-hm,” she replied. “Pin fixed up my armor real nice.”

 

“I'm very glad to hear that,” Tank transmitted back.

 

“Careful, people,” Taylor radioed, who had walked to the edge of the ramp to look around. “I spot several predators around. I don't think they're able to get through our armor but be careful anyway.”

 

Bravo-4 was first to leave, followed by Alpha-7. Sierra-1 was last.

 

“Alright, people,” Kepler said, turning to his teammates. “Roll call just to be safe. Staff Sergeant Centauri?”

 

“Present, Lieutenant!” Connor Centauri replied, saluting.

 

“Private Luna?”

 

“Present, sir!” Luna answered.

 

“Corporal Zwicky?”

 

“I'm here, Kep,” Zwicky replied.

 

“Sergeant Apophis?”

 

“All geared up and ready to roll,” Tank replied.

 

“Private Rosetta?”

 

“Ready to kick ass,” Rosetta answered.

 

“Staff Sergeant Eridani?”

 

Kate took a step forward. “I'm here,” she said. “Let's roll.”

 

“Alright then,” Kepler said. “Everyone follow me.”

 

Kepler walked to the edge of the boarding ramp before leaping up at the surface of the water above. The rest of Sierra-1 followed suit, Kate being last.

 

Upon breaching the surface, Kepler began counting the heads that popped up, before realizing in shock horror that one was missing. And he knew who, too.

 

“Kate?” he asked in slight panic. The heads of his fellow team members turned to check, then turned to Kepler again, as if to confirm what Kepler already knew.

 

Kepler immediately dove into the depths, his PM-7 automatically adjusting the visor for optimal underwater display.

 

What he saw made him turn red - even redder than he already was, if possible – with rage.

 

Kate was battling a hungry Sharkagator. Kepler swam towards her as fast as he could but, before his eyes – she was swallowed whole by the beast.

 

A rage unlike anything he had ever felt before took control of him, and before he knew it, Kepler was smashing his wrench against the creature's skull with uncanny ease, as if there was no water around him providing drag to his Omniwrench.

 

He struck the Sharkagator repeatedly with such force that it left the creature too dazed to react, until the creature eventually went limp in the water due to blunt force trauma.

 

Kepler forced the creature's jaw open, and within a minute he was helping Kate to the surface. He helped her climb on dry land before sitting down next to her. “You okay?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine I’d say,” Kate said, breathing heavily. “Fuck, that was rough, I need to take a rest for a second hold on.”

 

Kepler helped her with the shock of what she had just gone through by holding on and comforting her, like he had done before whenever she was in need. When she was ready she looked at him.

“I’ll be watching you closely, Katie, I guarantee all is gonna be ok, I swear to Orvus……”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

 

“What do you mean, he walked right in?” Talwyn asked.

 

“Don't ask,” Sasha replied, before suddenly, a large figure filled the screen, stepping in front of Sasha. “I merely figured that such operations as this one would greatly benefit from my expertise in leading.” the figure said.

 

“Really, we got this, Qwark,” Talwyn replied.

 

Captain Copernicus L. Qwark filled the entirety of the screen, with everything below his chest disappearing from view due to his sheer size. “Nonsense, I am certain my skills will be of help.”

 

“We would love to have your assistance, Sir,” Oort said to Qwark with a smile and a nod.

 

“You really don't,” Talwyn whispered to him, but it was too late.

 

“Alright! I shall be heading to your position at once,” Qwark said.

 

“Uh, no you don't,” Sasha interrupted. “Need I remind you that you were found hiding in a vending machine on private, military property? And are thus under arrest for trespassing?”

 

Qwark opened his mouth to retort, but Talwyn interrupted. “Wait, wait, what? Vending machine?”

 

“Correct,” Sasha replied. “He was hiding-”

 

“I was merely providing the soldiers with a brilliant compromise. I give them snacks, they give me military protection,” Qwark interrupted.

 

“No, you were being a chicken by impersonating an inanimate object when things got tough with the Cragmites,” Sasha replied, eyes virtually ablaze and digging into Qwark’s own. The large man seemed blissfully aware of the murderous glare cast in his direction however. “Well yes, because it would be incredibly unfortunate if I were to fall into enemy hands, would it not?”

 

Sasha opened her mouth to give Qwark a sarcastic comment, but Talwyn interrupted. “He might actually have a point there, Major Phyronix,” she said. “According to Ratchet, the first time Tachyon and Ratchet crossed paths on Kerwan, Captain Qwark was taken prisoner. His fame was then used to fuel Tachyon’s propaganda while Qwark, in secret, provided Ratchet and Clank with intel coming from within Tachyon’s organization, by utilizing his position as the man tasked with handing out the prize rewards of arena matches to use the few seconds of face-to-face time with the arena winner to exchange valuable information.”

 

Sasha was quite surprised by this. “He really did that?”

 

Talwyn frowned. “Yeah, and then he screwed up massively by taking the Dimensionator from Ratchet and unintentionally delivering it to Tachyon, who then used it to bring back a large amount of the Cragmite military.”

 

“He gave our most important piece of technology away to our public enemy number one?” Oort asked in sheer disbelief of such stupidity.

 

“Not on purpose, but yeah,” Talwyn replied. “You won’t believe the amount of effort it took to retrieve it.”

 

“And yet I fully believe that I will be able to contribute to this team,” Qwark countered. “Remember my excellent leading during Nefarious' invasion of Solana?”

 

“You drew your battle plans with crayons,” Sasha replied, and Talwyn could barely suppress a laugh.

 

“Did he really do that?” she asked, holding back laughter.

 

“Oh yeah, but the content was always the same: Ratchet and Clank this, Ratchet and Clank that. It was always their problem.”

 

“But did my plans ever fail?” Qwark asked. Sasha opened her mouth, then closed it again. Oddly enough, Qwark was right. As stupid and crazy as they were, his plans did work in the end.

 

Suddenly, a computer in the far right corner of the room began to beep. “Incoming call from Tamrak orbit, general,” one of the Lombax technicians said.

 

“It’s Ratchet! Sorry, Major, but we’ll have to talk about this further later. I must-” Talwyn began before Sasha interrupted her.

 

“Go check up on hotshot. We’ll deal with the big guy, Captain,” Sasha replied with a smile.

 

“Alright then, Major Phyronix,” Oort said before ordering for Ratchet’s transmission to be patched through. However, instead of Ratchet, the face of a female Lombax appeared on-screen. “Captain Apogee, general Oort?”

 

“We hear you loud and clear. You’re Angela, I presume? Not to be impolite, I'm just unaware of your last name,” Talwyn replied.

 

Angela nodded. “Angela Cross, pleased to make your acq-”

 

Angela was interrupted by a coughing fit that lasted for several seconds. “Sorry 'bout that,” she said afterwards. “Anyhow, the situation has gotten much worse here. Ratchet passed out a few minutes ago-”

 

“Alright, we're sending an extraction team as well as Nanotech,” Talwyn immediately replied, cutting Angela off.

 

“No!” Angela yelled. “Don't send anyone! I swear if you send anyone near this ship I'll shoot every infected person on this ship. I seriously cannot pressurize enough how dangerous this virus is. I'd rather be responsible for the deaths of three and be seen as a villain, than to die knowing that I stood idly by as I let a supervirus gain access to the galaxy.”

 

Angela took a deep breath. “I'm sorry, it's just that this virus situation ought to be taken very, very seriously. Letting any infected Lombax on this ship get into contact with the virus is super, super dangerous. If it spreads to just one person, they can unknowingly spread it further, and before we know it, we have the first galactic pandemic. We cannot let that happen. Captain, I swear that if you let anyone aboard this ship, the result will be countless deaths.”

 

Angela took a few seconds to catch her breath. Oort and Talwyn listened with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. “Anyhow, I'm not calling to argue with allies,” Angela continued. “I've found out that, rather than the three days I thought we- haaaah!”

 

Angela clutched her side, letting out a pained gasp as she fell off-camera. “Miss Cross? Miss Cross, are you alright?” Oort asked.

 

Angela's hand rose into view, giving them a weak wave. “I'm fine, it just hurts like hell,” she managed to say as she clawed her way back into view.

 

“Anyhow,” she continued, clutching her side while breathing heavily. “It seems that, contrary to the three days I originally thought, we only have a matter of hours. I mistook a couple of proteins. This virus is far more aggressive than I thought. Once the symptoms start presenting themselves, you'll be dead within a matter of hours. Captain Apogee?”

 

Talwyn had gone pale, before she abruptly got up and left the room.

 

“Did... did I say something?” Angela asked, surprised.

 

“Well...” Oort began, nervously scratching himself behind his left ear. “I don't know the full story, but Ratchet means a lot to her. Put simply, he and Clank are all she has left in this world, so you are telling her that he may die a horrible death in a matter of hours, and that she'll be powerless to stop it...”

 

“Oh... oh my...” Angela replied, staggered.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

As one they dove forward, disappearing below the wave. They were immediately joined by the other members of Sierra-1, and as one they headed to the rendezvous point, at the facility's docks.

 

Kepler noticed a sharkagator lurking below, but fortunately Kate had not seen it. The animal had seen them however. But it did not attack. A brilliant idea of Kepler had seen to that. They were swimming so closely together that, to the animal, they would easily be mistaken for a large predator rather than several smaller creatures.

 

As soon as they reached the docks, they rapidly climbed on dry land, grouping up with Bravo-4 and Alpha-7. For the most part, that is. Alex 'Hawk' Laniakea, Isa 'Noscope' Amari and Anne 'Shadow' Cluster had already headed into the facility, thriving on stealth. Thus, they would be at a disadvantage if they were to head in together with the rest.

 

The remaining Praetorians split up in two teams.

 

Team Apastron consisted of Kepler, Kate, Rosetta, Tank, Zwicky, Luna, Centuari and, by her request, Andromeda. Team Periastron consisted of Taylor, Webb, Titan, Parallax, Callisto, Ares, Sigma and Tyson.

 

In two teams of eight they stormed the facility. Team Periastron vanished into the air ventilation systems while the members of the hastily set up Team Apastron silently headed to their position. Following Kepler's leadership, they headed along the outer catwalks before heading into the main facility. Fortunately, someone had left several reinforced crates lying around, behind which they took cover.

 

Several Cragmite forces patrolled the area up ahead, making it impossible for them to continue without blowing their cover.

 

They had to wait for Team Periastron to start their plan by triggering the mist from the vents. Especially for Rosetta it felt like an eternity. Not because of the adrenaline, but because Andromeda was crouching beside him. For a moment she laid her hand on his, an action that sent a jolt of energy through him. “You okay?” she whispered to him on a closed channel, making sure she had disabled the speakers built into her visor, which effectively rendered her mute for anyone not utilizing the comms of a PM-armor set.

 

“Yeah,” Rosetta replied after double-checking that he had done the same. “Just a little nervous, but then again we're about to get shot at. You?”

 

She laughed. “Couldn't be better. We're far more dangerous than they are. I say, 'let them have it'. Let's get some sweet revenge.”

 

Rosetta stayed quiet for a few seconds, before speaking again. “Clarisse?”

 

“Yeah?” she replied, somewhat surprised that he used her first name.

 

“Just for the record – I have your back.”

 

She smiled. “Back at you, Liam. No pun intended.”

 

“People, stand clear,” Kepler's voice rang through their helmets. Being a squad leader, he had the capability to override the messaging systems of those under his command, but only the receiving part. He could not hear their responses, but they could hear his orders.

 

“I have just received word from Webb,” Kepler explained. “They're about to start. Make sure you're ready, but until I give the signal, don't move. Stay as silent as possible.”

 

“Well, here goes nothing,” Rosetta said to Andromeda. She laughed.

 

“Good hunting,” she replied.

 

“Likewise,” he said back to her before he focused on the vents.

 

Sure enough, a thin mist began to drift out of the vents. The patrolling Cragmites didn't think too much of it, until visibility in the area lowered noticeably.

 

“Switch to infrared and echolocation,” Kepler commanded, and every member of Team Apastron swapped to either infrared or echolocation rather than visible light, and immediately the Cragmites lit up against the backdrop of cold mist, despite their cold-blooded nature. They had to move fast however, because the Cragmites would not stay visible in infrared for long.

 

Kepler armed his weapon and rolled out of cover. “This one’s for Ratchet.” he said before he pulled the trigger.

 

Then all hell broke loose.


	21. Chapter 21: Whattttt?!

It was absolute chaos in the hallway of Nefarious' old base where team Apastron – Kepler, Kate, Rosetta, Tank, Zwicky, Luna, Centauri and Andromeda – had started their assault on the facility. There was fighting left and right, and although the Lombaxes found themselves nigh surrounded at first, the tide swiftly turned.

 

Kepler was leading the charge, fighting hand-to-hand with two Cragmites at once. He rolled under a wide swing of a knife

 

A third Cragmite attempted to attack Kepler from behind, running along the wall and attempting to drop down on top of the Lombax, but Centauri had Kepler's back, scoring a hit in the Cragmite's chest with a heavy caliber assault rifle and sending the Cragmite flying thanks to the impact force.

 

Elsewhere inside the narrow corridor, Kate found herself taking on a squad of Cragmites on her own, and she was quickly forced to seek cover as a torrent of gunfire was sent her way. Fortunately, the bulky crates that had once provided cover for Ratchet were still in place, albeit slightly more decayed. Nonetheless they proved resilient as ever, and bought Tank enough time to come to her aid, climbing up a stack of said crates and dropping down on the enemies from above. Although he managed to only snap one neck, he was able to buy Kate enough time to group up with him and deliver swift justice in the form of a plasma grenade that she hastily dropped before extracting Tank from the jumbled mess of Cragmites just in time.

 

The explosion consumed three of Kate's former attackers, while the fourth was sent flying and, unfortunately, found its trajectory occupied by Andromeda. The bulky Cragmite's corpse sent her slamming into the wall, pinning her down. Before she could attempt to free herself, a gunbarrel was pressed against her head. She closed her eyes in fear, and heard a shot.

 

For a few seconds, she didn't dare to move, until she could feel something tapping against her visor. “Hellooo?” Rosetta asked. “I shot him, you can get up now.”

 

She slowly opened her eyes to find Rosetta standing before her, offering a hand which she gladly took. After pulling her to her feet, the whole group moved on, Centauri and Zwiky having hunted down the remaining three Cragmite soldiers.

 

“Shite.” Zwicky suddenly hissed. “I'm hit.”

 

“Let me see.” Kepler immediately replied, rushing over to Zwicky. Kepler was relieved to discover that it was but a flesh wound, a Cragmite bullet had punctured Zwicky's armor and had become stuck in his lower left arm. Nonetheless it'd be impossible to extract Zwicky with the high probability of anti-aircraft turrets having been deployed following the commotion they had caused, and thus it was decided between Lieutenant Kepler and the Staff Sergeants, being Kate, Andromeda and Centauri, that it'd be best to keep Zwicky with them for now.

 

As they pressed on, Kepler informed Taylor and Webb of the developments.

 

“We're through.” Kepler radioed on a secure channel. “One hurt, no casualties, heading to rendezvous now, over.”

 

“Affirmative.” Taylor radioed back. “Status on the injury, over?”

 

“Flesh wound. Nanotech systems are dealing with it now but a checkup may be necessary, over.” Kepler replied.

 

After the long hallway, they took a left. The gap that Ratchet had once crossed through use of the swingshot had since been covered with a makeshift bridge from metal plates welded together.

 

“Think it'll hold?” Tank asked.

 

“If it can carry a Cragmite, it can carry us, but we shouldn't push our luck. One person at a time.” Kepler concluded after a brief visual analysis. Fortunately crossing the bridge went without casualties, and the squad soon entered the main facility.

 

They found themselves in a circular room, where they took a right turn. The small control room up ahead was surprisingly devoid of Cragmites – alive ones at least, as several were lying on the ground, dead. The likely causes stood nearby.

 

“Tay, Alice, good to see you've made it here in one piece.” Kepler said, walking forward and shaking Taylor's hand.

 

“Back at you, Kep.” Alice Webb replied. “We've already scouted the area up ahead but it seems devoid of Cragmites. Seems like a trap.”

 

“Then we'd do best to approach from the sides instead of straight ahead.” Kepler replied. “I suggest sticking to our earlier teams. We'll take the left.”

 

“Solid plan, Kepler.” Taylor remarked before signaling for his group to follow him. As they had agreed upon, Taylor's group hugged the right wall, while Kepler's group went left when traversing the large warehouse-like room.

 

They were met with no resistance. Upon reaching the door on the far side, they entered. The room that they found themselves in appeared circular in nature, although a large hole in the ground suggested that a piece of machinery had once occupied the center of the room. Oddly enough, it seemed to have been removed by force. Only one piece of computer equipment remained, built into the wall opposite to the door.

 

Kepler, despite the cry of alarm courtesy of Kate, charged forward to extract the data they needed. As she had feared, it was a trap.

 

The roof above them splintered as a colossal machine fell through, and as the dust settled, everyone was horrified to recognize it as a mech similar to the Luxtura-project they had encountered on Tamrak.

 

This edition featured four legs instead of three, all four legs being connected to the top of a spherical cockpit. The window was visible in the center, with a smugly smiling Cragmite pilot seated behind the bulletproof glass. Oddly enough, the cockpit inside appeared to be rather cramped, and as such the pilot was a rather skinny Cragmite in order to fit inside. What made up the rest of the sphere's volume was anyone's guess. A set of bulky turrets was mounted both on top and underneath the cockpit of the massive contraption, and they wasted no time in taking aim.

 

The Lombaxes scattered, hastily heading back into the warehouse-like area, where they found themselves surrounded as a storm of Cragmite soldiers came charging in. They were trapped.

 

They quickly took cover behind a set of large cargo containers, but it wouldn't be long until they would be swamped. Kate however realized in shock horror that Kepler hadn't followed, and thus she broke formation and charged back into the circular room.

 

“Eridani, hold position!” Taylor shouted after her but she didn't listen. Kate wasted no time in finding Kepler, that is, it was hard to miss. Kepler was being crushed by one of the machine's legs. The Cragmite pilot was watching Kepler squirm with a gleeful smile. He was in fact so focused on slowly squashing Kepler that he didn't notice Kate storming in. She quickly jumped on top of the machine by utilizing her wrench to launch herself upwards.

 

She immediately began to hammer on the thick plating shielding the turrets, something that didn't go unnoticed. The pilot spun the cockpit around at full speed, sending her slamming into the wall.

 

“Well, well, what do we have here?” the pilot hissed as he locked on to Kate, who was climbing to her feet. “You may have managed to outsmart the pilot of Luxtura, but now I, the pilot of the mighty Avatori project, have the honor of cleaning up his mistake.”

 

“Right after I squash your little friend here.” the pilot added before letting the leg crush Kepler. Said Lombax let out a cry of agony as the large, clawed metallic foot pulverized his lower body.

 

Kate heard the cry clear as could be, and the effect it had on her was indescribable. She felt a rage unlike anything she had ever felt take hold of her, nullifying the ache of being slammed into the wall.

 

Avatori opened fire, and Kate barely managed to avoid getting perforated by dashing underneath the mech with a speed that she didn't know she was capable of. Avatori reacted by moving the cockpit down in an attempt to crush her, which she capitalized on by conveniently dropping a plasma mine.

 

The explosion was spectacular and, sadly for Kate, more than capable of sending her flying yet again. Despite the sharp pain near her ribs, she forced herself up, and noticed the severe damage she had done to the mech. The explosion had managed to detonate most of the ammunition inside the lower turrets and although the plating had held strong, the cockpit window was in no way designed to withstand such fury, and a large pattern of cracks had formed on its surface.

 

Unleashing all of her anger, Kate charged at the cockpit and slammed her wrench into it with superhuman strength, not just destroying the window, but pinning the Cragmite behind it as well.

 

She forced the window further open with a flick of her wrist before commanding her wrench to fire a lethal blast of plasma straight at the Cragmite's neck. Needless to say, Avatori's reign was short lived.

 

Thinking fast, Kate pulled what was left of the pilot out of the mech before taking the controls herself and freeing Kepler. It was then that she discovered why the cockpit was so cramped: the rest of the sphere was filled with ammunition, enough to keep all turrets firing non-stop for a full hour.

 

It was as if a lightbulb turned on inside her mind, and she quickly began to force the doorway open further before entering the warehouse-like room. Misidentifying her as the Cragmite, her teammates opened fire, which Kate didn't mind in the slightest. She forced the machine further onwards, trampling the nearest Cragmites whilst unleashing a barrage of ammunition on any Cragmite that dared to move.

 

Needless to say, she was met with a tsunami of return fire after the initial shock had worn off, exactly as she had counted on. She forced the cockpit to spin as fast as it could, launching her out of the pilot's seat. As she had hoped, the machine kept firing everywhere, and the Cragmites kept trying to destroy it. Kate had a high-velocity encounter with a wall for the third time, this time ending up near her teammates out of sheer luck. Titan wasted no time in providing a protective barrier so the rest of the Lombaxes could extract her.

 

“We must get out of here.” Kate groaned. “Now. This entire facility is about to go up in flames.”

 

Thankfully, Webb didn't question her advice, and instructed everyone to charge in and extract both Kepler and the data they needed, whilst Taylor radioed for a drop ship to come in. Despite Oort's expected warning of anti-aircraft return fire, Taylor ordered for an emergency medical evacuation. Understanding the severity, Oort sent the drop ship regardless, instructing the pilot to stay underwater and pick up the Praetorians there.

 

Whilst Tank picked up the badly wounded Kepler and Centauri looked after Kate, the rest of the Prateorians opened fire on the wall, unloading everything they had. As soon as they had managed to create a hole large enough for them to escape through, they jumped.

 

Fortunately, the drop ship arrived sooner than any sharkagator, and managed to put a good few miles in between itself and the old research facility before the first Cragmite managed to breach the armor of Avatori, detonating the ammunition inside with enough force to destroy half of the building.

 

“Watchman, mission successful, but we have one critically injured.” Taylor radioed as the drop ship set sail for Tamrak.

 

“Roger, identify the soldier and the injury please.” Oort replied.

 

“It's Lieutenant Kepler, Sir. As for the injury... imagine dropping this drop ship on the lower half of someone's body. The injury is absolutely critical if not already fatal.”

 

“Understood. I... I'll see you all in a minute. Watchman out.” Oort replied before collapsing on the console in front of him.

 

“Sir, are you alright?” the nearest communications operator asked.

 

“No. Get a medical team here  _ now _ or we might lose one of our best soldiers.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Kepler was rushed to the medical wing immediately, where he had to undergo emergency surgery. Kate, although even more worried than she had been following the attack on Igliak, also had to undergo a medical examination, and was swiftly treated of three broken ribs thanks to a burst of Nanotech. The second the examination was complete, she rushed to where Kepler was, where she kept pacing about until the doors opened.

 

To her horror, it wasn't a smiling Kepler that exited the room, but a doctor.

 

“What's going on?” Kate asked instantly.

 

“We have applied all the Nanotech we have, but we do not have enough to repair him fully. We've been able to patch most internal bleeding, but we're simply out of supplies. We're powerless to save him.”

 

“How long do you need?” a voice suddenly said behind Kate. It was Clank.

 

“We have already ordered for more Nanotech to be delivered ASAP, but the best we have is one hour, and we need it within fifteen minutes.” the doctor informed him.

 

Clank nodded. “Very well. I must ask everyone to leave the room while leaving Mr. Kepler inside.”

 

The doctor frowned. “That's a frankly ridiculous request-”

 

“Do it.” Kate ordered without a moment of hesitation.

 

“I apologize, but that is outside your ability to-” the doctor began but Kate had had enough.

 

“Now!” she roared whilst readying her wrench. The doctor's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. “Miss Eridani, this behavior is enough to apply for a dishonorable discharge!”

 

“If that's what it takes...” Kate growled. “Now scram!”

 

The doctor thought for a moment before scoffing. “Fine.” he replied before opening the doors behind him and telling everyone to leave the area, and to leave Kepler behind.

 

“You'll regret this!” the doctor yelled over his shoulder as he followed his team down the hallway.

 

Kate sighed. “Clank what else do you need?”

 

Clank smiled. “I do not require any further assistance, miss Eridani. Just get the Nanotech here as soon as possible.”

 

Kate nodded before entering the room. She flinched visibly upon laying eyes on Kepler. “Oh, my...” she whispered as she knelt down beside him.

 

“Ka-aaaaate...?” Kepler slowly groaned.

 

Kate took his left hand into her own. “I'm here, Kep. I'm here.” she whispered as tears burned in her eyes.

 

Meanwhile Clank sighed before doing something he hadn't done in a long time.

 

“Sir?” Sigmund said as soon as the connection was established. “It's been so long! How are you?”

 

“I'm afraid I must postpone this conversation, Sigmund.” Clank replied. “I urgently require your assistance. Miss Eridani?”

 

“Who? Sigmund asked in confusion, not realizing that Clank was briefly addressing something he couldn't see.

 

“What is it, Clank?” Kate replied without breaking eye contact with Kepler, who was barely able to keep his eyes opened.

 

“I urge you to leave the area shortly.” Clank warned.

 

“Not a chance.” Kate replied.

 

“Miss Eridani-”

 

“Clank.” Kate interrupted him. “Imagine Ratchet lying on this table. Would you leave his side for literally  _ any _ reason?”

 

Clank opened his mouth, then closed it again, coming to the sad realization that Kate was the only person who could relate to what he was feeling with relation to Ratchet's illness.

 

“Hello? Sir?” Sigmund asked through the call, bringing Clank back to reality. “Ah, yes, Sigmund. Forgive me, but I have a favor to ask of you.”

 

“Happy to help!” Sigmund replied with more than a hint of happiness at the prospect of helping one of his best friends.

 

“Thank you, Sigmund. I am about to send you my exact coordinates now in an omicron-decimal format, are you capable of parsing those?”

 

“17,179,869,184 decimals? Sure, but why such accuracy?” Sigmund asked, puzzled.

 

“Sending you my location now. I urgently require you to create an anomaly at my exact location.” Clank replied. “Be careful however, it may not grow beyond five meters in diameter.” he added, remembering that keeping time intact in the hangar was of crucial importance.

 

“Uh... okay then.” Sigmund replied. “No time gate?”

 

“No, I merely need more time.” Clank replied with a smile.

 

“Aaah, gotcha. Establishing time anomaly now.” Sigmund answered, and sure enough, a cool blue light suddenly filled the area. Clank turned around and saw Kate frozen in place, her lips gently pressed against Kepler's forehead. Kepler was frozen in place as well, eyes half-closed and an expression of pure agony clearly visible on his face.

 

“It worked, Sigmund. I cannot thank you enough.” Clank said, feeling relief wash over him.

 

“You're... welcome... Sir!” Sigmund replied in a fashion similar to Ratchet when said Lombax was gritting his teeth while speaking. “I do apologize, but keeping this time anomaly constrained requires my full attention.”

 

“I understand, Sigmund. I should catch up later.” Clank replied before ending the call.

 

His design effectively rendering him immune to the warped fabric of space and time, he strolled out of the room, his hands folded behind his back and his processor on overdrive. He was in fact so lost in thought that he soon collided with a pair of legs.

 

“Sonuva!” the legs' owner cried out as they fell. Clank was also toppled over, and both landed rather roughly.

 

“Please excuse me.” Clank quickly apologized as he rose to his feet.

 

“It's alri-wait, Clank?” Talwyn stammered as she recognized his voice midway through her sentence.

 

“Miss Apogee?” Clank asked, equally confused as he turned to face her. “Was the mission to Daxx a success?” he immediately asked the Markazian.

 

“Why, yes. We've just sent the data to miss Cross.” Talwyn replied as she brushed some dirt off her clothing.

 

* * *

 

Angela was feeling worse with each passing second. She'd already thrown up seven times in the past two hours, she was trembling, and she didn't even  _ want _ to know the severity of the fever she was having.

 

Consequently it took her a short while to register the beeping noise coming from the communications terminal. Upon accepting the data transfer, not even the disease could stop a small smile forming on her lips as she realized what she'd received.

 

“Perfect.” she whispered as she relayed the data to the genetic analysis equipment. She leaned closer to the screen as her vision had gotten blurry and quickly read through the genetic analysis, quickly concluding that it was the genetic makeup of an antibody: a biological counter to the virus using said virus' antigen against it, effectively disarming the virus in every way imaginable.

 

She rapidly moved her hand to the 'print' button, but froze in her tracks as she registered something cold being pressed against the back of her skull.

 

Her eyes immediately dashed about until they noticed a conveniently reflective pipe overhead.

 

“R-Ratchet?” she stammered upon recognizing the person that was forcing a Cragmite blaster against her skull.

 

“All hail the emperor.”

 

“What?” she barely managed to ask before Ratchet pulled the trigger.

 

* * *

  
  


“I need a status update on our comrades aboard the Cragmite vessel.” Oort said. “And for the love of the Zoni – literally – get me the position of the emergency medical transport.” he impatiently added.

 

“Sir, yes sir!” the control room echoed before the sound of maniacal typing filled the air. Shortly after, Oort was informed that the medical transport was currently flying in intergalactic space and would be at their location in just over half an hour.

 

“Sir, we are attempting to reach the Cragmite ship, but they don't seem to pick up.” a control room operator suddenly spoke up.

 

“Can we force the connection somehow?” Oort asked, feeling a crushing sense of dread take hold.

 

“That would require hacking into their ship and working from there. Sir, permission to hack?”

 

“Not just permission granted – I order you and everyone else in this room to assault the shuttle's systems. Get me eyes on the inside of that thing darn it!” Oort barked, implicitly informing everyone inside the control room of his gut feeling: the control room crew knew well that a snappy Oort was equal to a nervous Oort.

 

Fortunately, the encryption was broken soon enough, and the search across the camera feeds commenced.

 

Oort ordered for every camera view to be displayed on screen, resulting in a monitor showing thousands of camera screens. Fortunately his time in the field had gifted him a sharp eye, and thus Oort's eyes locked on to a particular camera screen at the slightest sign of motion.

 

“There!” he barked, pointing a finger at the screen. “Sixth row, fourth column. Enlarge that please.”

 

He got his wish, and his jaw dropped. “G-get the audio feed online.” he said, barely able to keep his composure.

 

“Audio feed online, Sir. They can hear us.” a control room operator yelled, and instantly Oort seized the headset lying on the console in front of him.

 

The second he put it on, he lost it. “What the  _ hell _ is going on over there?!” he roared over the comms.

 

On-screen, Angela and Ratchet were locked in an intense hand-to-hand battle, and Angela jumped visibly at the sound of Oort's voice.

 

“General! Ratchet has lost it completely – he tried to  _ shoot _ me!” she yelled as she quickly rolled sideways to avoid an overhead swing. “It's as if he's brainwashed!”

 

“What?!” Oort asked in utter disbelief.

 

“I was about to create a cure for the virus when Ratchet tried to execute me with a Cragmite weapon.” she clarified through gritted teeth as she jumped back three feet to avoid another wild swing. “The bio-lock jammed the firing mechanism, and thus I seized the opportunity to pull the weapon out of his hands.” she added before narrowly avoiding another fist sent her way. “Then he went nuts, slapped the weapon out of my hands, and that's how we ended up like this. Where even is that darn thing?!”

 

“In the back!” Oort yelled, having quickly located the missing firearm.

 

Two pairs of Lombax eyes immediately locked on to the Cragmite gun. Angela made a run for it, but Ratchet grabbed her leg and threw her over his shoulder, sending her crashing into the wall.

 

Angela quickly got up and charged after him. Ratchet was about to pick up the gun when Angela grabbed his tail and pulled on it with every last bit of strength she had left.

 

Ratchet let out a roar of pain and flinched long enough for her to grab the weapon. As soon as she turned to face him however, her face was introduced to a fist. She staggered back a few feet and nearly dropped the weapon, but regained her wits in the nick of time. She narrowly ducked under Ratchet, who tried to reach for her throat, and retaliated by slamming the gun into the side of his head at full force.

 

The impact was, luckily for her, enough to knock him out cold.

 

“The cure!” Oort immediately reminded her.

 

“I... I got...” Angela mumbled as she stumbled to the console. The fight with Ratchet had drained what strength she had left, and now that adrenaline began to fail her too, she felt like she could collapse any second.

 

She let herself fall on the desk and laid her hand on the button, but didn't have the strength to press it.

 

“She's not strong enough.” Oort realized in shock horror before having an idea. “Everyone, get over here,  _ now _ . That's an order!”

 

Immediately everyone in the control room hastily made their way over to Oort, forming a crowd around him. “Now, together with me!” Oort yelled. “Angela, you can do it!”

 

“Angela, you can do it!” the entire control room repeated, quickly picking up the rhythm, and soon enough everyone was chanting in sync.

 

With the encouragement of the entire control room, Angela, with newfound strength, put everything she had left into a final push, forcing the button down.

 

The machine beside her began to emit a loud hum, indicating that her efforts had not been in vain. While she waited for the cure to finish, she collapsed onto the table, breathing heavily as she stared at the machine and prayed it would be done soon.

 

In the meantime, the entire control room kept cheering her on. As soon as the machine let out a beep, indicating that it was finished, Angela used what little strength she could gather and grabbed a syringe. Then, with as much caution as possible, she took a vial full of antibodies from the machine.

 

Fortunately, she didn't drop either the syringe or the vial, and soon enough she forced the needle of the syringe into her arm before forcing the antibodies into her bloodstream.

 

Removing the syringe was the last she did before she collapsed once again, and this time, her vision seemed to fall away.

 

“She's losing consciousness!” Oort yelled, who had kept a close eye on Angela's eyes, and noticed that she was staring into the distance. “Come on, Angela! Don't give up!”

 

The control room immediately began to parrot Oort: “Don't give up! Don't give up! Don't give up!”

 

Oort himself immediately joined in.

 

Mostly because of the support coming from the monitor, Angela barely managed to hold on, and after a few horrifying minutes, she began to regain her vision.

 

Immediately she gave Ratchet an injection as well, to stop the virus in its tracks.

 

“General?” she asked after removing the syringe, turning to the monitor.

 

“Quiet, everybody quiet.” Oort said, to silence the shouts of support that some control room personnel were still letting out. Once the control room was silent, Oort turned to Angela. “Yes, miss Cross?”

 

“Please send an extraction team.”

 

* * *

  
  


Given Ratchet's earlier behavior, the Praetorians quickly brought him to a hastily set up holding cell. When Talwyn was informed that Ratchet had returned, she immediately ran to the holding cell.

 

“Why is he in there?!” she asked as soon as she came charging into the room, finding only Oort and Clank inside.

 

“It seems the virus has a secondary function.” Clank explained. He was too upset to face her. “It... besides killing its host, the virus... it will attempt to damage the brain of its host, making them fight for the Cragmite cause. It turns its host into a suicide agent of sorts.”

 

“Ratchet...” Talwyn whispered, eyes widening.

 

“He does not remember me.” Clank muttered.

 

Talwyn stared at Ratchet through the reinforced glass window. Ratchet was almost maniacally clawing at the walls, occasionally changing it up and pounding on the wall instead.

 

“You can use that microphone to communicate with him.” Clank mumbled, pointing a finger at a microphone sticking out of a wall-mounted console without ceasing to stare at the floor in grief.

 

Talwyn swallowed her fear and took the microphone. “Ratchet?” she asked.

 

Ratchet stopped. “Who are you?! Show yourself, Lombax vermin!” he roared.

 

“Ratchet, it's me, Talwyn.”

 

“I don't care for your name.” Ratchet spat, suddenly staring at the window. “I only care for the feeling of flesh separating from bone.”

 

“Son of a Qwark, he's lost it.” Talwyn whispered to herself in utter disbelief before continuing. “Sure you must remember me.”

 

“I don't, and neither will anyone else when we're done with you. My emperor will see to it that all of you are erased from existence in any way imaginable.”

 

“Don't you remember how we first met at the Nundac Asteroid Ring? How Cronk and Zephyr ran into each other?”

 

“I only know what I need to know: how to kill, and more importantly, how to make others  _ suffer _ .” Ratchet said with frightening seriousness as he slowly crept towards the glass wall.

 

“Don't you remember Viceron, and how you and Clank broke into a max-security prison to save me, Cronk and Zephyr?”

 

“No, but I assure you that you don't have to worry about being imprisoned ever again.” Ratchet replied with a disturbing smile, making the implicit threat very clear.

 

“And do you remember Merdegraw, and how we searched for Clank together?”

 

“No, and why search for something not worth existing, with someone not worth existing?”

 

“Do... do you at least remember all the time we spent together following the Nether invasion? The funeral of Cronk and Zephyr? You losing that pancake challenge from Clank?”

 

She couldn't suppress a snicker. “You trying to show me your hoverboarding skills, and ending up breaking your arm? Or when we had a miniature prank war that ended with both of us falling into the Apogee Space Station's pond? Or how we defended the station from that pirate raid together?”

 

“I... I do... there's something vague...” Ratchet mumbled.

 

“Ratchet?” Talwyn whispered with a hopeful tone, pressing her hand against the glass. “Do you remember me?”

 

Ratchet laid his hand on the glass as well, with a blank expression, before an evil smile suddenly formed on his lips. “No.” he said before punching the glass with enough force to go right through, smacking Talwyn in the face.

 

In response, she staggered back a few feet, and instinctively reached for her cheek in response to the sharp pain coming from it. When she pulled back her hand, she saw her fingertips were red.

 

“Holy crap.” Oort whispered, staring at her cheek. “You, uh... uh...” he stammered, caught off-guard by the whole ordeal.

 

He cleared his throat, regaining his composure. “Captain Apogee, a glass shard seems to have hit your right cheek and has left a cut. I advise seeking medical assistance.”

 

Meanwhile Ratchet attempted to climb through the hole in the glass, but the ordeal had alerted the group of Praetorians standing guard.

 

“No, you don't,” Tank grumbled as he pressed his back against the hole. Ratchet attempted to claw his way through, but Pin's durable PM-7 armor plating design left him powerless to break through. Ratchet then attempted to push Tank away which, unsurprisingly, didn't end too well for him.

 

Suddenly, Talwyn made her way to the door leading into the cell. “The hell?!” Tank cried out, but he couldn't intervene lest he gave Ratchet a way out.

 

“Captain Apogee, what are you going to do?” Oort asked with more than a hint of concern.

 

Talwyn didn't respond as she began to open the door.

 

“Captain, I cannot stress enough the danger that you fail to see. Ratchet has essentially become an animal, I-”

 

Talwyn cut him off with a glare and a single middle finger raised in protest. Unsurprisingly, Oort was less than a little pleased at her downright rude gesture, and opened his mouth to retort, but Clank intervened. “General, please,” Clank began while Talwyn entered the cell and quickly closed the door behind her, locking her in there with Ratchet.

 

“What is it, Clank?!” Oort barked before he could compose himself. Clank was not offended however, as he had anticipated such a response. “General, Ratchet is one of captain Apogee's last two friends. There are only two people left in this universe that care for her as she does for them, and Ratchet is one of them. Try to imagine being in her shoes before passing any judgement.”

 

Oort's gaze softened from wrath to sadness. “Oh, I... now that you put it like that... you're right, I'm sorry.”

 

He quickly composed himself. “Please excuse me, I'm heading back to the control center, I'm going to have to get that transport here asap,” he said to Clank before leaving the room.

 

Meanwhile Ratchet had noticed Talwyn, and charged at her. The second he was close enough however, she wrapped her arms around him tightly and sank to her knees, taking Ratchet down with her. As she laid her head on his shoulder, he tried his best to break free, but it was as if she had turned into solid titanium.

 

Talwyn just sat there crying as Ratchet tried his best to get her to release him. He dug his nails into her back, but she didn't care. He tried to bite her shoulder, which also didn't work. There was no pain he could inflict on her that would come even remotely close to the pain she had in her heart.

 

He made another fruitless attempt at breaking her by forcing his claws into her skin until they drew blood, but she didn't even acknowledge it.

 

Clank watched as Ratchet reached for her hair, grabbed it with both hands, and then pulled on it with all his might. Talwyn did not react.

 

Ratchet grabbed her ears and tried to pull on them to no avail, and lastly, he once again took hold of her hair.

 

However, he didn't pull. Clank frowned in confusion as Ratchet didn't move. He just sat there motionlessly until he, so slowly that it was barely noticeable, let go of her hair and let his hands fall to his sides.

 

“T... T... Aaaal... T-T-Tal?” Ratchet groaned, barely audible.

 

Talwyn hastily pulled her head back, but didn't release him. “Ratchet?!” she whispered, her eyes red with tears.

 

Ratchet was staring into her eyes as if he was half-comatose, but there was definitely a change in his gaze. It was no longer a soulless stare, there was a very slight hint of recognition in there.

 

“Taaal... wyyyyn...” Ratchet groaned again, reaching for his head as if he was having a headache.

 

“Yes, Ratchet. Talwyn,” she whispered, a brief hint of hope in her voice.

 

“Is... you?”

 

“I'm here, Ratchet. I'm right here.”

 

Ratchet blinked a few times, with more and more sense returning to his eyes with every blink. He stared at his hands before noticing the bloodstains and tears in Talwyn's shirt near her shoulders. “Did... did I...” he whispered in disbelief and fear.

 

“It's not your fault,” Talwyn whispered.

 

“Sergeant Aphophis, could you get a medical team here please?” Clank asked Tank, who replied with a thumbs up before running off.

 

Clank immediately jumped through the hole in the glass and ran up to his friends. “Ratchet!” he yelled.

 

“Clank?” Ratchet groaned slowly as he turned his head towards the robot.

 

“Take it easy, Ratchet.” Clank advised, halting beside his friend.

 

Ratchet smiled weakly. “I wasn't planning on doing anything different.”


End file.
